A Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania has granted Jayne Vaders, last year’s leading trainer at Philadelphia Park Casino & Racetrack, a stay of her indefinite license revocation, which was handed down by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission last May.
Vaders had appealed the commission’s ruling, but lost that appeal April 16. The stay was granted April 25.
Vaders, 51, has had seven positive drug tests since 1995, six of them for Class 3 drugs including acepromazine, which is used as a tranquilizer, and one for a Class 2 violation for fluthenazine, which is also used as a tranquilizer. The Class 2 violation occurred in 2005.
Chris Ryder, a spokesman for the racing commission, said Vaders’ license revocation was upheld because, under current state horse racing regulations, stewards are allowed to revoke a trainer’s license after two or more positive tests.
Alan Pincus, a Las Vegas attorney representing Vaders, said it could be “years” before Vaders’ appeal is heard in Commonwealth Court in Harrisburg.
“My client’s due process was violated from the very beginning,” Pincus said.
He said the commission presented a “ridiculous” set of obstacles and regulations to justify revoking her license.
Pincus said to his knowledge, such a rule has not been enforced in similar situations with other trainers in Pennsylvania. He said the drugs for which Vaders’ horses had tested positive were mostly therapeutic in nature.
“If you tried to enforce that rule, at least 25% of the trainers in Pennsylvania would be immediately thrown out,” Pincus said. “I think there’s some sort of vendetta against (Vaders) within the commission from the actions I’ve seen.”
Vaders currently is third in the Philadelphia Park standings with 33 victories from 163 starters and earnings of $649,246. She worked as trainer John McCaslin’s assistant for nearly 10 years before taking over the operation. She took out a training license in 1994 and saddled her first winner in 1996.
Vaders won the Philadelphia Park training title in 2007 with 117 winners and purse earnings of $1,902,476.
