More Crackdown on 'Paper Trainers' at Gulfstream

The Stronach Group (TSG) has leveraged its private property rights at Gulfstream Park to bar a second trainer this week who has a long history of medication-related sanctions, and has also asked another suspected “paper trainer” to document that he is directly and personally doing business with the owners of the horses under his shed row.

The Paulick Report first reported Sept. 20 that suspended trainer Marcus Vitali has been denied access to TSG properties while Gulfstream officials investigated whether Allan Hunter Jr., was doing business on his own or under Vitali's guidance while listed the trainer of record for a string of horses that had been previously trained by Vitali.

In a phone interview early Friday evening, TSG president and chief operating officer Tim Ritvo confirmed to the TDN that trainer Kirk Ziadie has now also been excluded from the TSG-controlled barn areas of Gulfstream Park and Gulfstream Park West (formerly Calder Race Course), where his father, Ralph Ziadie, operates a racing outfit.

This past spring, Kirk Ziadie was suspended six years by Florida regulators after an administrative law judge ruled he violated 18 counts of state statutes pertaining to prohibited drugs in racehorses. That long, drawn-out legal process was related to a series of clenbuterol overages between 2012 and 2014, but the case is not yet over, because Ziadie successfully appealed the suspension through the court system. Although he has a training license under a legal stay, he has not saddled a horse since June 28, 2015.

Ritvo said the Vitali and Ziadie situations share similarities from the standpoint that TSG is starting to crack down on “paper trainers” or “program trainers” who do little more than train horses in name only. The difference, Ritvo said, is that Vitali is licensed but suspended, while Kirk Ziadie is fully licensed but considered “undesirable” by TSG because of his history of medication violations.

In the case of Vitali, Ritvo explained, Hunter admitted he was acting as a paper trainer on behalf of Vitali as “a favor.” In the case of the Ziadies, Ritvo said TSG officials are demanding proof that none of the horses in Ralph Ziadie's care either belong to Kirk Ziadie or to clients who deal directly with Kirk. They have asked Ralph Ziadie to provide them with documentation that shows he is controlling such items as stable payroll, worker's compensation payments, and financial transactions with owners.

“Ralph has been around for years, and he's a really good horseman,” Ritvo said. “What happened is, we were getting complaints that Kirk Ziadie was hanging around the barn. We never issued Kirk Ziadie any stalls. So other than to visit his father or something like that, he still was licensed, but we decided it was in the best interest to not have him on the backside in restricted areas.”

“Kirk Ziadie has a six-year suspension pending,” Ritvo continued. “He did go to court to get a stay. So in reality, he still is licensed with the state. We just basically ruled him off from coming to the track, saying listen, get your situation cleared up with the courts before you come back, and we want to make sure that these horses are your father's horses.”

Ritvo said that Ralph Ziadie concluded a meeting with TSG officials earlier this week by saying he was confident he could provide the requested information.

Ritvo said even if documentation is provided to disprove the “paper trainer” claims alleged against the Ziadies, “once in awhile we'll be calling the owners, making sure the dialogue is between Ralph Ziadie and the owners. And then we're keeping Kirk off the track, so that's probably going to help.”

The TDN attempted to locate a working phone number for both of the Ziadies to contact them for comment, but could not obtain one prior to deadline for this story.

Kirk Ziadie, a MGSW trainer with 762 lifetime North American wins, has been a polarizing backstretch figure while primarily plying his trade in Florida since 2002. He has won multiple training titles at Calder, Gulfstream, and Tampa Bay Downs, but he also has 51 separate infractions listed on his record at the site www.thoroughbredrulings.com maintained by The Jockey Club. At least 14 of those rulings were for medication violations, and in 2009, while Kirk Ziadie was in the midst of a 29-month appeal for one of his horses testing positive for the tranquilizer Acepromazine, Calder ejected him from the grounds without stipulating a reason.

Ralph Ziadie is a MGISW trainer with 1,450 lifetime North American wins since 1981. Before emerging as a perennial top-ranked trainer based at Calder in the 1990s and a colorful conditioner on the national racing scene with the versatile MGSW Sir Bear (Sir Leon), he was a third-generation trainer in his native Jamaica. -@thorntontd