KHRC's Joseph Investigation Includes Necropsies, Videos

Necropsy findings that could shed light on a pair of sudden deaths of horses trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. competing during the initial days of the Churchill Downs spring meet have not yet been released, according to attorney Craig Robertson, who represents the beleaguered trainer.

Additionally, email records obtained by BloodHorse through an open records request to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission indicate Kentucky stewards plan to evaluate videos from Keeneland purported to show footage from the stalls in which the trainer's horses were boarded. Joseph raced 11 horses at Keeneland in April prior to the start of the Churchill meet. The two horses that died, Parents Pride on April 29 and Chasing Artie on May 2, breezed at Keeneland prior to racing at Churchill.

"I have asked for copies of those and they have yet to be provided to me," Robertson said. "I don't know anything about what may or may not be on those videos."

Joseph, indefinitely suspended by Churchill Downs Inc. May 4, saw his horses in the final days of Kentucky Derby Week scratched by the stewards. One of those withdrawals came in the Kentucky Derby (G1) with the removal of Vegso Racing Stable's Lord Miles , winner of the Wood Memorial Stakes (G2) in April at Aqueduct Racetrack. Shortly after the KHRC action, Churchill Downs announced its suspension as a private property owner.

Regulatory sanctions are honored from state to state but suspensions issued by tracks, track owners, or racing associations, do not carry over to other tracks. Since the sudden deaths occurred, Joseph has continued to race horses elsewhere, largely at his principal base at Gulfstream Park, a 1/ST Racing track.

"There has been an unfortunate string of deaths recently that involve more trainers than Saffie Joseph," Robertson said, referring to eight fatalities at Churchill Downs since April 27. "He just happened to have two horses. So I think he had people looking at him because of that. But I'm confident that ultimately the results of the necropsies and everything are going to show there certainly wasn't anything improper done by Mr. Joseph." 

A KHRC investigation into the sudden deaths and Joseph's operation is ongoing. Often a specific cause of such deaths is difficult to determine. Deaths during racing are rare, and sudden deaths, which are not attributable to a catastrophic breakdown, are a small subset of those occurrences.

KHRC records further indicate the regulator was uncertain of the timetable for the completion of the necropsies conducted by the University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratory.

The KHRC denied a BloodHorse open records request for drug testing information on Joseph-trained horses, claiming it was exempt from disclosures of information that could be used in an administrative adjudication. 

Following the Derby, Lord Miles was mentioned as a potential starter in either of the final legs of the Triple Crown, though he was not entered in the May 20 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course. Joseph told Daily Racing Form May 12 that the June 10 Belmont Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park was under consideration.

The colt's Belmont Stakes status could be impacted by the KHRC investigation and any subsequent action by the regulator or Kentucky stewards. The New York Racing Association released a statement May 17 that Joseph's 16 stalls at Belmont Park are currently empty after a May 14 departure from one of his horses. He was not asked to vacate the property, according to Pat McKenna, NYRA's vice president of communications.

"Following recent events at Churchill Downs, which remain under investigation by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, NYRA has engaged in discussions with trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.," McKenna wrote in a statement. "Mr. Joseph has no horses stabled at Belmont Park and, to our understanding, is not currently planning on shipping horses to New York or entering races at Belmont Park while the matter is under investigation. NYRA will continue to evaluate our response should new information come to light."

Having state ties, NYRA is under a greater obligation to provide due process rights.

"At this juncture, NYRA has not said to him or me that he would not be allowed," Robertson said. "That being said, we have (three weeks) from Saturday until the Belmont Stakes and it's our hope that between now and then, we will have a lot more information and hopefully results of the necropsies."

—Dick Downey contributed to this report.