By T. D. Thornton
For the second time in a little over a year, the New Mexico-based jockey Oscar Ceballos has successfully appealed to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to wipe out penalties related to a more-than-six-strikes whipping disqualification handed down by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA).
The Oct. 3, 2024, ruling involved circumstances remarkably similar to Ceballos's first penalty reversal by the FTC on Sept. 11, 2023. Both successful appeals involved a total of 11 strikes administered to a Thoroughbred in a stakes at a New Mexico track, and both appeals were heard and ruled upon by the same administrative law judge.
Ceballos, along with Eleanor Martin, the owner/breeder of Alotaluck (Sir Prancealot {IRE}), had argued in appeals first to the HISA board of directors and then to the FTC that some of the 11 strikes of the whip that Ceballos administered to the 3-year-old gelding shouldn't have counted against his HISA-mandated six-strike limit because he was using his whip to control a dangerous situation.
The race in question was the Feb. 18, 2024, GIII Sunland Derby, in which Alotaluck finished second. After the Sunland Park stewards ruled that Ceballos had exceeded the HISA whipping limits, Alotaluck with disqualified from the placing, Martin was forced to forfeit $85,360 in purse winnings, and Ceballos was fined $853.60 and penalized with a three-day suspension.
On Apr. 16, 2024, when the HISA Authority's board of directors heard the initial administrative appeal, it didn't buy the argument that Ceballos had whipped in the interest of safety.
“There is no dispute that Mr. Ceballos struck Alotaluck 11 times during the race,” stated the Apr. 26 decision signed by HISA's board chairman, Charles Scheeler. “The videotape of the race clearly shows that the horse was lugging out and also moving toward the rail at different points [but] the Board does not believe that Mr. Ceballos administered shoulder strikes to Alotaluck for safety purposes. The videotape shows that the horse was not running amid close traffic, and Mr. Ceballos was not looking behind him or otherwise manifesting signs that he was concerned about safety.
“In addition, Mr. Ceballos testified that the horse was 'off' during the race, and the Board is concerned that Mr. Ceballos continued to strike the horse with the crop if he thought the horse was in trouble,” the HISA board's Apr. 26 ruling stated.
Ceballos and Martin then appealed the HISA board's decision to the FTC.
“HISA was presented with testimony from a licensed Thoroughbred trainer, attending veterinarian, and attending farrier advising Alotaluck suffered an abscessed foot injury, a primary cause for the horse to lose its path and drift out during the stretch,” the FTC appeal by Ceballos and Martin stated. “For the safety of the horse and riders, Ceballos engaged the crop and tapped Alotaluck's shoulder to safely steer the horse.”
The Oct. 3, 2024, ruling by D. Michael Chappell, a chief administrative law judge acting on behalf of the FTC, agreed with the reasoning articulated by Alotaluck's jockey and owner/breeder.
“The burden of proof is on the Authority to show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the covered person has violated a rule issued by the Authority,” Chappell wrote.
“The evidence shows that out of the 11 strikes to Alotaluck, the seven strikes to Alotaluck's shoulder were made for safety reasons in order to stop Alotaluck from lugging out. Accordingly, because the strikes to Alotaluck's shoulder were made to preserve the safety of the horses and riders in the race, and thus permitted under HISA Rule 2280(b)(4), the Authority has failed to establish that Ceballos exceeded the six-strike limit under HISA Rule 2280(b)(1). For all these reasons, the evidence establishes that the imposed civil sanctions were not in accordance with law.”
Chappell wrote that the HISA sanctions imposed upon Ceballos are to be reversed, with Alotaluck's placing and purse winnings restored.
Ceballos, when he won his other appeal last year, at the time earned the distinction of being the first jockey to get the FTC to reverse a HISA-imposed whipping penalty.
That previous penalty reversal dated to a Sept. 24, 2022, incident in which Ceballos struck Sheriff Brown (Curlin) five times more than permitted when winning the Downs at Albuquerque Handicap.
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