Stewards at Turfway Park have slapped trainer Bret Calhoun with a 30-day suspension after a horse in his care tested positive for the prohibited anti-hypertension drug Guanabenz following a win at Churchill Downs May 26.
Trainer Beau Greely received a suspended 30-day ban and a $3,000 fine for medication rule violations after a horse in his care was found to have raced with carisoprodol, a skeletal muscle relaxant.
Trainer Cody Autrey is serving a seven-day suspension and has agreed to a $12,500 fine after two horses in his care were found to have competed with guanabenz in their systems during last summer's Del Mar meet.
Santa Anita stewards fined trainer Dan Hendricks $3,000 while staying a 30-day suspension as a result of a medication violation for acepromazine. Beau Greeley faces a California Horse Racing Board complaint as well.
Trainer Michael Pender began serving a 15-day suspension Jan. 3 stemming from a medication violation for guanabenz, which was found in one of his horses during the Del Mar meeting.
Two complaints against trainer Cody Autrey and one against trainer Michael Pender were filed by the California Horse Racing Board after horses in their care were found to have guanabenz in their systems in post-race urine tests.
The Maryland Racing Commission has reduced the penalties of two trainers who had been dealt lengthy suspensions after their horses raced at Pimlico Race Course with an illegal drug in their systems.
A human drug used to treat high blood pressure, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and addictive behavior has been detected in at least 10 post-race samples of horses racing in Nebraska recently, and sources say the number of positive tests could double in the coming weeks. Seven trainers have been notified by the Nebraska Racing Commission that their horses tested positive for Clonidine, which drug testing experts say can have both a calming and analgesic effect on horses and is closely related to Romifidine and Guanabenz, two drugs suspected by racing officials as being used illegally on horses.
<i>By Kent H. Stirling</i> -- This game is "not being conducted on a level playing field, and hasn't been for years."..."I've also seen trainers practically disappear off the face of the earth after the test for clenbuterol was developed."..."Our sport is policed by a bunch of buffoons."
