Dutrow Request to Amend License Revocation Denied

State regulators in New York have rejected a request by former trainer Rick Dutrow to re-open the case that led to his racing industry license being revoked for 10 years.

The announcement came at the conclusion of a meeting of the state Gaming Commission July 16. The matter was not listed on the agenda in advance of the meeting.

The commission announced the board ruled against re-opening the matter, by a 4-2 vote, to consider amending Dutrow's 10-year license revocation and a $50,000 fine.

The board turned down a request by Dutrow's lawyer, Karen Murphy, to let Dutrow, his brother, mother, and others who traveled to the agency's meeting to be able to publicly address the board on Monday. 

An agency spokesman declined to immediately provide any further details, including the basis upon which Dutrow wanted the penalties to be re-considered. The spokesman, Brad Maoine, said the board's order is expected to be released on Tuesday.

"It's a terrible injustice,'' Murphy said after the board's decision to let stand the penalties against Dutrow.

The New York State Racing and Wagering Board, the predecessor agency to the current Gaming Commission, booted Dutrow out of racing for 10 years in 2011 for what it said was a series of rules violations. The final straw, the board said at the time, was the presence of the painkiller butorphanol in a urine sample from Fastus Cactus after a 2010 race at Aqueduct, along with the discovery of hypodermic needles in a Dutrow barn.

The regulatory agency said the license revocation was in order because Dutrow is a "person whose conduct at racetracks in New York State and elsewhere has been improper, obnoxious, unbecoming, and detrimental to the best interests of racing.'' Dutrow was able to continue training while the matter was challenged in court; an appeals court in 2012 upheld the board's decision in the case.

Murphy said a series of requests have been made to the Gaming Commission beginning in 2016 to get the board to re-open the issue of Dutrow's penalties. She said new evidence was submitted and a formal motion made last year on the issue. But, she said, the agency did not hold any hearing or ask her any questions about the requests. Murphy said Dutrow has been out of racing for more than five years.

Murphy's requests have included arguments that the board let Dutrow's penalty be adjusted for the time he's already served, consideration of charitable work he has been doing, and clemency. She said the original decision involving past rules violations by Dutrow was a "gross mis-characterization of his record.'' And she noted the 10-year revocation and $50,000 fine was "wildly out of line" with the case's original hearing officer who recommended a 90-day suspension.

The New York license revocation, Murphy said, has kept Dutrow out of the business of training elsewhere. A who's who from the racing industry, she said, has written letters or signed a petition in recent weeks and months seeking to end Dutrow's ban from racing. "The racing community is saying 'we want him back,''' Murphy said.

An online petition backing Dutrow was started in March by trainer Dale Romans. As of Monday, it had 2,423 signatures in support of ending Dutrow's license revocation.

Dutrow's lawyers did not lay out a precise next step that might be under consideration to try to get the former trainer's penalties reduced.

"The Gaming Commission's rejection of our application to reopen the case, without any opposition even being filed or any hearing on the application, is very disappointing. It is a missed opportunity to right a wrong and to salvage Mr. Dutrow's life. He deserved better,'' said Andrew J. Turro, a lawyer who is also representing Dutrow.