By Bill Finley
The list of trainers that have been informed by the Horse Racing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) that a horse they train has tested positive for the controversial drug Metformin has grown by two.
According to postings on the HIWU website, Greg Foley and James Lawrence II have been notified that horses under their care had Metformin in their system. Lawrence's positive came from the horse Cherished Wish (Mshawish) in a May 23 race at Penn National in which she finished second. The Foley horse to test positive was Camaro Z (Liam's Map). The race in question was the June 1 Audubon Stakes at Churchill Downs where the 3-year-old colt finished third.
The positives were the 12th and 13th for Metformin since HIWU took over the task of drug testing and handing out penalties for rule breakers. Seven cases have been resolved and six are still pending. The maximum suspension for a Metformin positive is two years.
Earlier this month, HISA announced that it was deferring all interim suspensions involving metformin until the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium's (RMTC) Scientific Advisory Committee had conducted a review of the available science relating to metformin. The RMTC's review is expected to take months.
“I was blown away by this,” Lawrence said. “We're sitting here right now working away on it. I am very upset. I have no idea how in the world that filly could have it in her system. We're going through all the steps to try to figure out how this happened. Luckily they have put everything aside for a while to study it. This has turned my world upside down.”
“The way they are testing now they are picking up all kinds of little contaminants and calling them positives. They are ruining people's careers and the drugs they've found have had no bearing on the outcome of the race.”
Lawrence is based at Delaware Park, which meant that his filly spent time in the receiving barn at Penn National prior to her race there.
“This very easily could have been a matter of someone urinating in the stall of the receiving barn,” Lawrence said. “About a month prior, we came into the receiving barn there and someone was urinating in a stall. That was documented by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission. They need to step up with these barns that we are shipping in to to make them more sanitary and clean. I have faith because I know I didn't do anything wrong.”
At deadline for this story, Foley had not returned a phone call seeking comment.
Foley, who has been training since 1981, has won 1,536 races, many of them at the Kentucky tracks. Lawrence has 103 career winners.
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