CHRB Fines Two Trainers for Del Mar Positives

Trainers Ben Cecil and Howard Zucker were slapped with fines by the California Horse Racing Board for positive drug tests produced from races at Del Mar last summer, it was announced May 30.

Cecil was fined $5,000 for a positive test involving promazine, a Class 2 substance that serves as a tranquilizer, following Queenie Belle's second-pace finish in the $95,150 Piedra Foundation Handicap Aug. 24. The second-place purse of $19,960 was redistributed, according to the CHRB.

Zucker was fined $6,000 after his horse, Crafty T.C., was found to have albuterol, a Class 3 bronchodilator, in his system following an unplaced finish in a race Aug. 23.

Both fines were reached in stipulated settlements with the trainers, the CHRB reported. The medications in questions are legal, but the amounts discovered exceeded the maximum allowable levels.