Miyadi Suspended by CHRB After Drug Test
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Photo: Benoit Photo
Trainer Steve Miyadi (center) with Run for Retts in the Del Mar winner's circle in 2015
The California Horse Racing Board announced July 21 that trainer Steve Miyadi will be suspended 30 days after one of his horses tested for levels of methamphetamine and amphetamine that exceeded allowed limits following a race at Los Alamitos Race Course in December.
The suspension comes as part of a settlement between Miyadi and the CHRB. The settlement includes the reduction of a 180-day suspension to 30 days, a $5,000 fine, and a one-year probation period. The suspension will begin Aug. 7 and end Sept. 5.
Though Miyadi agreed to the settlement, his lawyer, former trainer Darrell Vienna, said the positive urine test on Tommy Town Thoroughbreds' Run for Retts following her third-place finish in the Soviet Problem Stakes Dec. 3 was a "passive contamination."
Vienna said when Miyadi first learned of the positive test, he agreed to have himself and all of his employees also tested for drugs. Two grooms tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine far exceeding the levels found in Run for Retts, according to Vienna, who also took issue with the threshold levels in horses that trigger suspensions.
Run for Retts' test showed 5.9 nanograms per milliliter of amphetamine and 13.8 nanograms per milliliter of methamphetamine. One groom tested for 3,068 nanograms per milliliter of amphetamine and 9,775 nanograms per milliliter of methamphetamine, while the other had respective numbers of 878 and 2,955.
"The levels (in Run for Retts) were extraordinarily minute and it is a testament to the detection process," Vienna said. "The amounts are far below cutoffs of thresholds for federal employees—human beings. If this horse was capable and qualified to fly an airplane, she would be able to transport passengers in a jumbo jet."
Vienna said he believes Miyadi had a good case to oppose the sanctions, but the trainer ultimately agreed to the settlement to avoid the risk of a lengthier suspension. Vienna also took issue with the process, which would have had to go through CHRB stewards or hearing officers.
"The decision was made to go through tremendously lengthy litigation or to reach a settlement. It's a tough decision," Vienna said. "If we had an opportunity to (have) an adjudication under an impartial judge—and I don't want to disparage the hearing officers or the stewards, but frankly their employment is predicated on the whim of the CHRB."