Commentary: When Regulation Runs Amok

The following commentary was submitted by Maggi Moss, a longtime Thoroughbred owner and advocate for racehorse aftercare. Moss, an attorney, has raced a stable of Thoroughbreds at Indiana Grand Race Course for several years with trainer Tom Amoss, and this year was second-leading owner. Moss was among a handful of Thoroughbred owners asked to speak on successful business practices in racing at the first Thoroughbred Owners Conference in October but was unable to attend because of travel difficulties.

Years ago, racetracks began to rely on casinos to support purse money. Throughout time, this only appears to have hurt the sport.

The exception was new ownership and a bright future for Indiana Grand Race Course, an up-and-coming racetrack where the new chief executive officer and ownership team cares about racing and created a great racing experience. It was a ray of hope in Midwest racing. But then, regulators, under the guise of cleaning up the sport, began a nightmarish path to dysfunction and unfair practices.

The 2014 meet began May 6 with an attempt to adopt new Association of Racing Commissioners International medication rules. However, uncertain withdrawal times for therapeutic medications—in the middle of the meet—created an ever-changing landscape for horsemen. It was, admittedly, a work in progress; even trainers strictly complying with new rules were called in with "positives." The immeasurable amounts, by all scientific data, could not ever remotely affect the performance of the horse.

Indiana also changed labs, without racing commission approval as required by Indiana statutes, and chose LGC Science in Lexington. LGC was not the low bidder; Truesdail, the lab used by Indiana for 20 years, was. Despite this decision by Indiana Horse Racing Commission executive director Joe Gorajec, in the middle of the meet they again switched labs to Industrial Labs in Colorado. This involved sending investigators to LGC, and "taking" samples by investigators, putting any chain of custody or preservation of samples in total disarray.

Now in place —depending on what set of rules horsemen were to follow—was a measuring of overages of therapeutic medications in picograms. A picogram is literally immeasurable, defined as one-trillionth of a gram.

To add to the chaos of this backdrop, the Indiana equine medical director, supervising new drug testing and collection of samples, was suspended for seven days and subsequently went on medical leave. Almost immediately, in Standardbred, Quarter Horse, and Thoroughbred racing, overages or positives began to come in astronomical numbers that, at times according to reliable sources, number more than 70. The handling of this became a secret and was selectively dealt with by regulators. Worse, none of this was told to the betting public. This writer alone fielded more than 20 calls from individuals notified of positives, all of which had followed published withdrawal times.

Trainers notified of overages were allegedly deprived of any due process or procedures outlined specifically in the Indiana rules of racing. Any rights to lawyers, timely split samples, or allowing Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association representation was ignored. Worse, individuals were threatened with excessive penalties if they did not take the "deals" offered. Most of this was done behind closed doors; the identities of those disciplined were never released to the media or the betting public.

Pursuant to the 2013 IHRC annual report, there were only five positive tests in Indiana: four Standardbred and Thoroughbred/Quarter Horse. It has been estimated that Indiana has exceeded 70 overages/positives in 2014.

The definition of foreign substances in Indiana included naturally occurring substances that are beyond normal physiological levels. Cobalt, a known and dangerous substance, fits this description. On Sept. 3 the Indiana Horse Racing Commission voted to approve a cobalt threshold, with that rule not going into effect until Sept. 30.

One horse was reported to test at 45 times 25-parts-per-billion in testing and was not sanctioned. All of the test results are available as public record in this report. At the same time, trainers with immeasurable amounts of therapeutic medications were being fined and forfeiting purse money.

Many trainers took fines for illegal race-day overages and/or illegal drugs, and again none of their names or penalties to date are available to the betting public or were released to anyone  This writer only knows about penalties and purse loss by looking up her account and seeing her own horses moved up and awarded first-place purse money. If not for online accounts showing the bookkeeper's notes, she would have no knowledge of these disqualifications.

One assistant trainer was removed from the premises by security under the accusation of injecting a horse on race day. By all accounts it appears he might not have been there at all. To further confuse the matter, the assistant licensed as an assistant trainer for the trainer of record was ruled off, but the trainer of record has been allowed to continue racing in Indiana.

In 2014 sworn testimony by trainers Wayne Mogge and Ron Raper indicates they used illegal drugs—not approved therapeutic drugs—that carry serious sanctions: ACTH, and P-Block, and STOP2. The drug substances were administered on or about race day, but the trainers were allowed to continue to participate at Indiana Grand.

Raper admits in a sworn affidavit to using ACTH on 10 horses July 5 in Quarter Horse futurity trials. Two of his qualifiers from the trials (Stinkin Rich and Diamond Kissed Too) finished first and second in a futurity on July 26 and earned $71,775 and $26,500, respectively. Those two horses have not been disqualified from the futurity for admitted legal drug use on July 5.

Another one of Raper's horses, Iz Special James, finished fourth in another July 26 futurity, then went on to finish second under Raper's name Oct. 25 in the Governors Stakes and earned $25,600. Another horse under his care that he admitted to drugging July 5, Jesse Jr First Down, went on to finish seventh in a futurity July 26 and finished third in Governors Stakes in Raper's name.

The 70 plus overages/positives, and maybe more, just in 2014, have not been revealed by the regulators at Indiana Grand, which misleads the betting public and creates an aura of secrecy with the public and the media. This pattern of positives and closed-door deals has been taking place since August with secrecy and selective prosecution. The meet ended Nov. 1, and though information as to the veracity of all this will perhaps be released, it only looks like a "guised effort to get tough on drugs."

Regardless of what is ultimately disseminated by regulators at the end of the meet, the fabric of racing was horses being disqualified for picograms of therapeutic drugs and horses competing with known illegal and performance-enhancing drugs. This unfair racing product was kept secret from the betting public throughout the meet.

All of us involved in racing only ask for a fair playing field: fairness in racing, in prosecutions, and in enforcement. We can only rely on dissemination of the truth from the media that covers our sport. We must insist on total transparency of the jurisdictions we support and race in.

I have personally received more than 20 calls from participants at Indiana Grand, ranging from trainers, people involved in Dr. (Ross) Russell's case, and lawyers involved, that have substantiated this information. I have attempted to get others that make their living as writers to look into these troubling allegations, and no one has attempted to investigate what is happening in Indiana.

We must stop calling everyone cheaters when we discuss picograms of therapeutic overages versus cobalt, dermorphin, and other boutique drugs that kill our horses and jeopardize our jockeys. The media must do its job and stop calling everyone in racing cheaters, and also inquire into what a picogram is and how it affects a racing animal. The media also should ask what our labs are doing to test as they never have before and trying to measure amounts that are simply immeasurable.

Most of all the media must realize it is what makes the public think that racing is a cesspool of cheating when in reality it is not. A good starting point would be to see how inconsistent drug testing and inequality by our regulators is aiding a very unfair playing field. Indiana with its new regulations, switching of labs, and selective prosecution would be a good starting place.

We must call for uniformity of punishments no matter where we are racing in all states. Right now, a trainer could get 60 days for a legal overage of a race-day medication in Indiana, yet in Iowa a jockey caught with illegal buzzers is reinstated to ride again. Overages of race-day legal medications are ignored by some but amount to fines and suspensions in other jurisdictions. One need only go to the RCI website and look under penalties to see the wide disparity of treatment.

Most of all, I call for an investigation into Indiana racing. Indiana Grand could be a gem among a dying sport in the Midwest by telling the truth to the betting public and the media as to a broken, dysfunctional, and inequitable system that is simply not playing fair. Yes, we all want to clean up the sport desperately and get rid of all illegal medications, but not as a power play to see who carries the biggest hammer—without justice and equitable treatment to all participants, not just those that are handpicked by one person.