Kentucky Trainer Gorder Facing Drug Charges

Successful Kentucky-based trainer Kellyn Gorder is facing major sanctions after one of his horses tested positive for methamphetamine in November at Churchill Downs.

In a blood test result initially reported by LGC Science and then confirmed by the University of California, Davis, Bourbon Warfare tested positive for methamphetamine after a Nov. 22 race she won at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky board of stewards has suspended Gorder for one year, beginning May 1, and has fined the trainer $5,000.

The stewards also disqualified Bourbon Lane Stable's Bourbon Warfare from the Nov. 22 race and she will be placed last. The $24,600 in winning purse money will be redistributed.

Gorder plans to appeal the decision. He believes the positive was a case of contamination, as opposed to anyone willfully giving Bourbon Warfare methamphetamine (a form of which goes by the trade name Desoxyn, according to Association of Racing Commissioners International guidelines).

"The levels of methamphetamine found in Bourbon Warfare's bloodstream suggests this is a contamination situation rather than doping," Gorder said. "I have drug tested all 31 of my employees since learning of this positive and all came back clean for methamphetamine and all other Class A drugs.

"I don't know whether it was a person walking through the barn one day with something on their hand and fed a horse a mint, or someone touched paper money with residue on it and then tied a tongue tie before her race. I am completely puzzled. I want to get to the bottom of it and find out where the contamination came from. I am looking into an appeal, so I can better present my case before the authorities."

The finding and sanctions were announced April 18 by the stewards. That same day, the stewards suspended Gorder for 60 additional days for violations at his stable discovered after a Dec. 27 search of his barn. Stewards determined the stable was in violation of rules prohibiting a person other than a veterinarian from possessing injectable medications, hypodermic syringes, or a needle. Stewards also ruled that the stable possessed improperly-labeled oral medication.

The 60-day suspension would be served after the one-year suspension. Gorder said the investigators found a syringe that had been used to treat a sick horse.

"In early 2014, there was a horse in my care for training who had an infected artenoid chondroma and needed 14 days of Naxcel nebulizer treatments, which had been prescribed by a veterinarian. The protocol for administering Naxcel, which is an antibiotic, via the nebulizer, includes the use of a syringe and a needle, to combine the Naxcel and sterile water, and put it in the nebulizer, so the horse can inhale the antibiotic treatment," Gorder said. "I keep syringes in my barn to give oral medications and eye medications, as well. I never injected the horse with the Naxcel. I only used the needle for the nebulizer treatments. The horse shipped out in June of 2014, and unfortunately I did not dispose of the medication and needle upon his departure properly as I should have, thus they were found in my possession when my stable was searched."

As a drug with no recognized use in a horse and a high probability to affect performance, methamphetamine is in the highest classification on the RCI Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances. As such, it is listed in the highest-level category for recommended sanctions.

Gorder, a former rider who went on to work with trainer Jack Van Berg and also served as a farm trainer for WinStar Farm before establishing a public racing stable in 2008, has saddled graded stakes winners Bourbon Courage, Devious Intent, and General Election since 2012. He is well aware of the seriousness of the charges.

"I am devastated, not just for me, but for my clients and my employees. I love horses—period," Gorder said. "They are my passion, my profession, my life. I would never, ever do something or give something to one of my horses that would in any way put them or the people around them in jeopardy, or gain them an unfair advantage over their competition. To put it bluntly, I did not, nor would I ever, give a horse methamphetamine, nor have I ever done or been in contact with methamphetamine."

Noting the expected appeal, Kentucky chief state steward Barbara Borden declined comment, but noted the detailed report that has been issued.