By Bill Finley
On June 26, trainer Jorge Duarte, Jr was informed that a horse he trained named Happy Cat (Kitten's Joy) had tested positive for methamphetamine following a May 22nd race at Delaware Park. Duarte was indeed concerned, but he insisted he had done nothing wrong, that cooler heads would prevail and that he would not be penalized.
Three-and-a-half months later, he has already started serving what could be a lengthy suspension. The problem is that when there is a drug positive, Duarte says the position of the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) is that you are guilty until you can prove you are innocent.
“Here I am, guilty before they could prove I'm guilty,” Duarte said. “I haven't even had a hearing yet.”
Duarte is the private trainer for Richard Santulli's Colts Neck Stable, which is based at a private training center. That means that when he runs a horse, they will usually spend time in the receiving barn at the track. Reporting for the TDN, Dan Ross found these locations around the country can be filthy and it's common for backstretch workers to urinate in them. They are an environment conducive to yielding positives that are the result of environmental contamination. In the Aug. 21 edition of the TDN, Ross wrote that HISA reported 13 methamphetamine positives were identified at that point–seven were from ship-ins.
“I'm upset because they have written rules that don't give anybody a chance,” Santulli said. “They're saying we gave meth to the horse, which is completely absurd. And they're saying that with the ways the rules are written, if there is any meth in the horse, that horse will test positive.”
Some believe that giving methamphetamine to a horse produces nothing in the way of an enhanced performance, making it unlikely that anyone would use it as a doping agent.
HIWU doesn't necessarily agree.
“Methamphetamine is a banned substance under HISA's ADMC Program because there is no approved veterinary use for the substance, meaning it's not supposed to be in a horse's system,” said a HIWU spokesperson. “Methamphetamine is similarly classified in the ARCI Model Rules and in other major international racing jurisdictions. HIWU prosecutes violations due to its presence in the horse, not because of the intent or effect of the drug. That said, methamphetamine is a stimulant, which has known side effects of increased alertness and energy.”
Duarte will not go down without a fight. He has sent numerous emails or memos to HIWU staff in which he has tried to explain his predicament and make the case that he never gave the horse methamphetamine. He has gotten nowhere.
“They don't want to help you,” Duarte said. “If you can't come up with anything that shows there is the presence of meth in someone's system, they just want to bury you.”
That's how it works. The trainer must prove where the meth came from. That may require testing employees. If one that handled the horse tested positive for meth, HIWU will usually hit the trainer with a much shorter suspension.
“HIWU has communicated to Mr. Duarte and his counsel the fact that the Provisional Suspension, as is the case with all methamphetamine matters, will be no more than 60 days,” said a HIWU spokesman. “They still have the opportunity to provide HIWU with relevant information, including information relating to the potential source of the positive test. As a result, the Provisional Suspension could be lifted before 60 days. It should also be noted that all the matters in which no Provisional Suspension was imposed involved cases where B Sample analysis did not confirm the result of the A Sample.”
Duarte went to work. He had himself tested, as well as any of his employees that handled Happy Cat. All the tests came back negative. But Duarte noted that none of the employees of Delaware Park or the Delaware Racing Commission that had any contact with Happy Cat were tested. He said that the person who collected the urine from the horse did not wear gloves.
Duarte kept digging and now believes he knows what happened. When he ships into a track, he brings a groom, but hires a freelance hotwalker. According to Duarte, the day after Happy Cat tested positive, another horse turned up positive for meth. Trained by Bonnie Lucas, it was also walked by the same freelance worker.
“I had a methamphetamine positive one day after Jorge had his,” Lucas said. “HIWU is just stonewalling. They've been of no help and they don't listen to reason. Yes, Duarte and I used the same hotwalker. I have a pro-bono lawyer working for me and he's doing a great job. He's sticking up for me, but HIWU just continues to be unreasonable. I've lost everything because of this. I've already lost horses and I have had to sell horses just to be able to be able to afford to keep going. I haven't even been served with anything yet, and that's frustrating. As a trainer, I lived a comfortable life. Now I work a second job, just to make sure I get by. I am working as a waitress at a restaurant.”
Like Lucas, Duarte said it's been very hard to get HIWU to do anything.
“I called the Delaware Racing Commission and HIWU and asked if this freelance hotwalker could be tested and there was a disconnect and they kept throwing the ball back and forth,” Duarte said. “The Delaware Commission said they couldn't test the person, that only HIWU can. HIWU told me they can't do it, that the Delaware Racing Commission has to do it.”
Duarte took things into his own hands and made arrangements to have the hotwalker tested by an outside lab. She tested negative. Duarte believes that's because he gave the hotwalker a seven-day notice of the impending test and the person refrained from using the drug in the days leading up to it.
HIWU listened to what Duarte had to say, but concluded that he had not proven that the horse's positive was a matter of environmental contamination.
On Aug. 29, Duarte heard from HIWU. In an email from HIWU lawyer Geneva Gnam, he was told that because he couldn't prove where the meth came from, the provisional suspension, with the possibility of stretching out longer, remained in effect.
“This is the story: Jorge has no rights and he did nothing wrong. It's bull (expletive),” said Alan Goldberg, who trained for Santulli before retiring and turning the barn over to Duarte. Goldberg has come out of retirement to oversee the barn while Duarte is suspended.
The letter from HIWU notifying Duarte that he was being suspended included the following: “Having received and reviewed your submissions on July 2, 2024 and Aug. 27, 2024, which do not include a sufficient explanation, HIWU is satisfied that you have committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.”
“The whole thing is crazy because they don't want to help you,” Duarte said. “And if you can't come up with anything on your part that shows there's presence of meth in somebody's system they just want to bury you. There's no screening of the other people who handle the horse, the gate crew, the pony boy, people than randomly walk around the receiving barn and want to walk your horses There's no security. The receiving barn there was disgusting. They assigned us those stalls.”
Some prominent trainers have paid attention to the Duarte story and have expressed their concerns.
“Lisa Lazarus had every opportunity to fix this,” said trainer Rusty Arnold. “She realized early on that these were examples of environmental contamination. The Department of Transportation has thresholds for drivers and pilots. It's not hard to understand.”
Duarte will have a hearing on Oct. 3 but will remain under suspension at least until that time. He has a deep-pocketed owner in Santulli behind him who is ready to fight back.
“What bothers me is that there is no due process,” Santulli said. “They set the rules and as silly as they are, they just say those are the rules. That's very unfair to the average horse trainer. It's terrible. We're going to survive. Al just got his trainer's license renewed. But for the average horse trainer what can they do? So how do we prove that we didn't give the horse meth? That's impossible. Why would I give a horse meth? What for? It's just horrible. We'll go to the hearing. If we lose, I'll take this to every court I can take it to.”
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