buzzer

Jockey Gerard Melancon, a mainstay atop the riding standings in his home state of Louisiana, was arrested Aug. 26 on a charge related to the alleged possession of an electrical shocking device after Evangeline Downs stewards reported an "incident" to state police. Ray Paulick of Paulick Report had the scoop in a Tuesday story. He cited confirmations of the "unnatural stimulation of horses" arrest from the St. Landry Parish sheriff's office, the clerk of the parish court, and the Louisiana State Police. But details were scant because of an "ongoing...

The Louisiana State Racing Commission (LSRC) affirmed lifetime bans for two sibling jockeys from the Patin family on Tuesday related to the brothers' criminal convictions for possessing illegal horse-shocking devices in races at Evangeline Downs in 2015. The hearings concluded in bizarre fashion when Joseph Patin Jr., 58, apparently slipped out of the meeting room without telling anyone after first hearing that his younger brother, Billy Patin, 53, wasn't going to be allowed to work as an exercise rider despite Billy previously agreeing to a lifetime ban of his license...

September was a busy month for buzzers. On Sept. 15, the Monmouth Park board of stewards suspended jockey Tomas Mejia for 10 years and fined him $5,000 for possessing an electrical device--commonly referred to as a "buzzer"--during a race run there Sept. 3. That same day at Indiana Grand, leading Quarter Horse jockey, Sammy Mendez, was "summarily suspended for actions not in the best interest of racing," and is awaiting a full hearing before the track's board of stewards. According to the Paulick Report, the suspension is connected to use...

Roman Eric Chapa, a jockey whose promising early career got derailed by repeated rulings-off for using illegal devices to shock horses into running faster, died July 27. Reportedly, the 50-year-old Texan succumbed to devastating injuries he sustained in a March accident while riding in an unsanctioned horse race in Georgia. During his hospitalization, a family member said he spent 45 days in a medically-induced coma. Because of his recent inability to gain licensure at many of the Southwest tracks where he had once been a leading Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse...

Roman Chapa, the jockey who has been suspended three times since the 1990s for possessing illicit shocking objects that can frighten a horse into running faster, rode his first race back on Monday since completing a five-year suspension and paying a $100,000 fine after getting caught with an electrical "buzzer" at Sam Houston Race Park in 2015. Chapa finished fourth on 27-1 Uzi (Overanalyze) in the $20,000 Inaugural S. on the June 8 opening-day card at Arapahoe Park in Colorado. In February, Chapa got his riding license reinstated by the...

After serving a five-year suspension and paying a $100,000 fine for using an illegal electrical shocking device on a Thoroughbred at Sam Houston Race Park in 2015, jockey Roman Chapa on Thursday got his riding license reinstated by the Texas Racing Commission (TRC), a spokesperson there confirmed. On Friday morning, the 48-year-old jockey crossed the state border into New Mexico to meet with Sunland Park stewards to discuss whether they would allow him to ride there. Izzy Trejo, the executive director of the New Mexico State Racing Commission, told TDN...