By T.D. Thornton
Jockey Roman Chapa's fine for carrying an electrical shocking device was increased from $25,000 to $100,000 by the Texas Racing Commission Friday.
Chuck Trout, the TRC executive director, wrote in a commission order that the maximum allowable fine levied by the Sam Houston Race Park stewards was “insufficient to adequately address the violation.” He cited Texas Racing Act 307.69 as his power to hand down a harsher financial penalty than the stewards could legally impose.
Trout cited three reasons for quadrupling the fine: 1) The Jan. 17 offense was Chapa's third lifetime violation for carrying a prohibited device; 2) Chapa “compromised the integrity” and “damaged the reputation” of both the sport and Sam Houston; 3) Chapa's actions have “acted as a deterrent” by keeping the public from attending and wagering on Texas races.
The device came to light after close-ups of otherwise innocuous photographs of a stakes win by Quiet Acceleration (Silent Picture) revealed what appears to be a tan, palm-sized device with protruding prongs in the 43-year-old jockey's partially closed left hand.
Neither Chapa nor his attorneys could be reached for comment before deadline for this story. But in an appeal filed Wednesday that disputed the stewards' Mar. 3 fine and five-year suspension, Chapa's legal team wrote that the stewards relied on “no physical evidence or testimony” to establish that Chapa “was in possession of any kind of device before, during or after the race in question, or that any kind of device had been used during the race.”
In response to Wednesday's appeal, Trout wrote a separate letter to Chapa's attorney Friday that said Chapa would not be allowed to ride while his appeal is being adjudicated. But Trout did write that Chapa would not have to pay the $100,000 penalty until the appeals process was finished.
“Considering that carrying a prohibited device during a race constitutes an imminent danger to the safety of the other riders and horses in the race, I have determined that it is not in the interest of justice to permit Mr. Chapa to participate in racing during the pendency of the appeal,” Trout wrote. “Regarding your request…that Mr. Chapa tender the fine during the pendency of the appeal, I have decided to grant this request to ensure that Mr. Chapa's due process rights are protected.”
All of the above commission penalties are separate from Chapa's legal woes that stem from the same incident: The 43-year-old rider is facing “unlawful influence on racing” felony criminal charges in Harris County Court while free on $10,000 bail until a Mar. 18 arraignment.
Chapa has twice previously been suspended in Texas (1993) and New Mexico (2007) for attempting to frighten a racehorse into running faster with a prohibited object. Under the terms of his most recent suspension, he would be ineligible for licensure until January 18, 2020.
With the release of Chapa's appeal paperwork by the TRC, new details emerged as to how Chapa's attorneys are attempting to discredit the stewards' assertion that Chapa carried an illegal electrical device. According to documentation filed with the appeal:
•At the Feb. 27 stewards' hearing, an unnamed TRC investigator testified that in the six or eight other electrical device cases he had previously examined that resulted in a penalty against a jockey, all involved the actual physical discovery of the device.
•No physical post-race examination of Chapa's tack or saddle resulted in the finding of an illegal device.
•Larry Taylor, a jockey who had ridden Quiet Acceleration in previous races, was allegedly shown a video of the race in which Chapa was deemed to have used the device. Taylor allegedly said “the horse ran just as he always had,” including when Taylor had ridden him to victory.
In addition to the penalties imposed against Chapa, Quiet Acceleration was disqualified from the win and declared unplaced. Purse money for the $50,000 Richard King S. is pending redistribution.
The date of Chapa's appeal, which will be scheduled by the State Office of Administrative Hearings, has not yet been set.
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