By Bill Finley
In a case of whodunnit, Monmouth-based trainer Aparna Battula has been denied a stay of a suspension issued by the New Jersey Racing Commission after investigators found several hypodermic needles and vials in her tack room July 29.
However, Battula, a former jockey who came to the U.S. from India, said a disgruntled employee she had only recently fired planted the needles and vials without her knowledge. She said the employee then called in an anonymous tip to Monmouth Park security and told them to search Battula's barn.
“It was one of my friends that I went to school with and she was working for me and we were having trouble with her over the last month leading up to this,” Battula said. “I had people warning me about her, that she was acting jealous of me, even though I was close to her family and we were friends for a long time.”
Battula said that she had a particularly busy day July 28 with two horses entered and the employee “was not being very helpful.”
“A week before that I told her that if she didn't step up, I'd have to let her go,” Battula continued. “She was really mad at me. That Sunday [the 28th], I was in the process of running horses, trying to get my job done, trying to get horses cooled out and she wasn't being helpful. I told her she had to leave.”
Battula said the employee showed up the next morning, the two exchanged words and before the employee left, Battula believes she planted the syringes in the tack room. Battula said she was too busy with her morning work to focus on what the ex-employee had allegedly done.
“I have 11 horses in training, I gallop all my horses,” Battula said. “We start early. I was just going about my whole routine. She wasn't there so everyone else had to do extra work and we were all busy trying to get horses out. I had horses tacked up to go to the track. It never hit me or occurred to me what was going on. She put them in the office. I never thought she would do something so drastic.”
Battula said the employee told other workers in her barn that the “disgruntled employee” admitted planting the syringes.
Battula's lawyer, Karen Murphy, identified the ex-employee as Maria Cardone.
It is illegal for a trainer to possess needles and regulated or illegal medications on the backstretch. However, in an e-mail sent to the New Jersey Racing Commission, Murphy argued that Battula was not actually in possession of the illegal items because she had no idea they were in her tack room since they were put their by Cardone.
“I write FIRST to respectfully demand that you make a correction concerning the attached ruling which inaccurately states that Ms. Battula 'by her own admission, did possess in her occupied premises on the grounds of Monmouth Park….over 30 hypodermic needles and syringes as well as over 80 vials of injectable substances,'” Murphy wrote. “There was NO such admission. Rather, the testimony established that one of your licensees [Maria Cardone], who refused to appear in person at the administrative hearing, planted two bags in Ms. Battula's tack room in retaliation for having been fired the day before. As you are aware from that same testimony, at no time did Ms. Battula 'possess' any prohibited items on the premises of Monmouth Park.”
What also has yet to be determined, and may go a long way toward deciding Battula's fate, is what was actually in the syringes. In its ruling, the New Jersey Racing Commission wrote that a “number of injectable substances” were sent for analysis. The ruling continued that Battula will have a hearing before Board of Stewards “once the confiscated items have been analyzed and the results reported to the New Jersey Racing Commission…”
The Board of Stewards may see the case completely differently if the vials contained something as innocuous as vitamins or legal therapeutic medications versus a more serious class of illegal drugs. It is not known how long it will take before the results of the tests are received by the racing commission.
“Nothing that is out there is what it people are making it out to be,” Battula said. “Karen told me they are trying to make an example out of me. They just want to look good. According to them, I'm nothing, so I'm an easy person to throw under the bus.”
Battula is three for 25 on the year while racing primarily and seven of 75 during her career.
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