Indiana Trainer Facing Three-Year Suspension

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission's executive director is recommending a three-year suspension of trainer Mike Norris for allegedly administering drugs on race day at least five times this spring at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino.

In a 73-page administrative penalty complaint issued this month, IHRC executive director Joe Gorajec recommended Norris be suspended for three years and fined $15,000, and that the involved horses be disqualified. In Indiana, the IHRC delegates authority to the executive director to prepare and issue administrative complaints.

A hearing for Norris is expected to be scheduled in January.

The complaint outlines five incidents of horses saddled by Norris who tested positive for hydrocortisone succinate (Cortisol) from May 28-June 20 this year at levels that an LGC Science report say indicate they were administered on race day.

In the report, LGC laboratory director Rick Sams said a finding above 250 picograms per milliliter in the blood is indicative of administration within 24 hours of the time of sample collection. The report said the five Norris samples in question all tested above that 250 pg/ml level. At least two of the tests were more than 10 times over that 250 pg/ml level.

Hydrocortisone succinate is a Class 4 substance on the Association of Racing Commissioners' Uniform Classification Guidelines for Foreign Substances. The five-class system used to characterize substances considers Class 1 to be of the most concern on down to Class 5, the least concern. Class 4 substances are therapeutic substances with a low probability to affect performance.

While Cortisol would typically be of relatively low concern to regulators and carry minimal penalties, the race-day administration of any substance is of high concern, as indicated by the recommended sanctions. With the exception of furosemide, Indiana, like most U.S. jurisdictions, strictly forbids the administration of all substances 24 hours before a race.



The names of the five Norris-saddled horses who tested positive for hydrocortisone succinate were redacted in the copy of the administrative complaint provided to The Blood-Horse. In each season since 2010, Norris has saddled at least 90 starters who have earned at least $215,000. His 159 starters this year had won 10 races, placed in 48 others, and earned more than $275,000.

The IHRC believes information collected during an investigation also supports the allegation that Norris administered drugs or compounded substances on race day.

Norris was summarily suspended Aug. 26 for alleged misdeeds that also involved veterinarian Ross Russell. An IHRC administrative complaint last month called Russell, 31, of Tampa, Fla., a veterinarian "whose ethical compass is broken" and recommended he be suspended 20 years.

That 38-page administrative report filed in October alleged that one of Russell's assistants provided Norris with loaded syringes. The October administrative complaint alleges Russell's assistant would "stand on the toilet and leave it on the ledge to the right."

The assistant, Libby Rees, D.V.M., who worked for Russell from April 1 to Aug. 14, 2014, said in the complaint that she was not aware what was in the syringe but noted it was larger than normal. The complaint also says that Rees was instructed to leave "an unopened bottle of P-Block and an unopened bottle of dexamethazone for Mr. Norris."

P-Block is a compound that, according to Internet ads for the product, is used to reduce neurological pain. One of the compound's ads lists the pain-killer Sarapin, defined by a National Institutes of Health study as a suspension of powdered Sarracenia purpurin (pitcher plant) in alkaline solution, as the active ingredient. The anti-inflammatory Dexamethazone (Azium) is a Class 4 substance.

The administrative complaint noted that having a veterinarian's assistant drop off such substances at the barn would allow the trainer, or his staff, to conduct race-day administrations.

Norris appealed the immediate suspension handed down in August but an administrative law judge upheld the IHRC's decision. The trainer's attorney had filed objections to that ruling.