Report: Harness Trainer in PED Case Turns in License
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Photo: Woodbine Mohawk Park/Michael Burns
Campbellville Ont.June 9, 2021.Woodbine Mohawk Park.Standardbred qualify for the restart of the 2021 Standardbred racing season at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Friday June 11, 2021.Woodbine Mohawk Park/ Michael Burns Photo
Standardbred trainer Adrienne Hall, who admitted to receiving performance-enhancing drugs from Dr. Seth Fishman in testimony during his trial and conviction earlier this year, has voluntarily turned in her New Jersey Racing Commission license, according to a report in Harness Racing Update.
Hall said she did so after failing to come to an agreement with the NJRC over when a hearing for her would be held, Bill Finley reported for Harness Racing Update. Hall said lawyers from the Department of Justice asked that she not testify before the racing commission until after the trial of Fishman's former assistant, Lisa Gianelli. Gianelli was to be tried alongside Fishman but her case was declared a mistrial after her attorney caught COVID-19.
In the Fishman trial, Hall testified the veterinarian gave her a PED called VO2 Max, which she used to dope a horse and win a harness race in March 2019. Prosecutors in the case claimed VO2 Max increased horses' oxygen levels that enabled them to run faster.
Hall is a New Jersey native who has run horses in the state.
She and Thoroughbred owner/trainer Jamen Davidovich were two whistleblowers who testified in the Fishman trial Jan. 27. The day after his testimony, the Ohio State Racing Commission announced it had suspended Davidovich's license pending a hearing.
Hall and Davidovich testified in court under either a non-prosecution agreement or grant of immunity.