Amoss Suspended 60 Days, to Serve 15 as Part of 3/B Settlement Agreement

Trainer Tom Amoss is serving 15 days of a 60-day suspension and has been fined $5,000 after reaching a settlement agreement with the Indiana Horse Racing Commission (IHRC) for a positive post-race equine drug test that turned up the Class 3/Penalty Level B substance sotalol in one of his winning trainees at Horseshoe Indianapolis on Oct. 17, 2022.

The Paulick Report first reported the penalties Tuesday, with Amoss declining to comment.
According to the American Association of Equine Practitioners, sotalol in its oral form “is increasingly being used in equine practice for chronic oral therapy of a multitude of [cardiac] arrhythmias, despite a lack of data supporting its clinical efficacy and safety in horses.”

Class 3 is considered a middle category within a multi-tiered Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) classification system, in which Class 1 Drugs are considered the most severe or harmful and Class 5 are the least. The B Penalty category is a middle value on an A-B-C severity scale.

The IHRC ruling noted that “this is the second Class 3/Penalty Level B offense for Mr. Amoss within the previous 365 days.”

In a Nov. 10, 2022, ruling, the IHRC had penalized Amoss for seven days and fined him $3,000 for a Class 2/Category B positive for the painkiller lidocaine that was detected in a June 23, 2022, winner he trained at Horseshoe Indianapolis.

Under the ARCI guidelines, the recommended penalty for a Category B second offense calls for a “Minimum 30-day suspension absent mitigating circumstances. The presence of aggravating factors could be used to impose a maximum of a 180-day suspension, [plus a] minimum fine of $1,000 absent mitigating circumstances. The presence of aggravating factors could be used to impose a maximum fine of $2,500.”

The now-disqualified Malibu S S (Malibu Moon), then a 3-year-old colt, won a N2L allowance by a length as the 11-10 favorite at Horseshoe Indianapolis when triggering the positive test.
Owned at the time by Greg Tramontin, Malibu S S was subsequently claimed twice out of back-to-back wins at Fair Grounds earlier this year and is now trained and owned by Karl Broberg's End Zone Athletics. Malibu S S ran eighth in a Lone Star Park allowance/optional claimer on Apr. 15.
Amoss will be assessed four Multiple Medication Violation points on his ARCI record, according to the ruling. His 15-day suspension started Apr. 15 and runs through Apr. 29.

The ruling further stated that the 45-day “deferred” portion of his penalty “shall be served, in [its] entirety, as an active suspension upon a finding, in any racing jurisdiction, that Mr. Amoss is responsible for a medication violation on or before November 17, 2023, [that involves] any substance classified by the ARCI as a Class 1, 2, or 3, or which carries a penalty level designation of Level A or B.”