Darrell Vienna

In the latest detour in the exhaustive legal saga stemming from Justify's 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby win, the connections of the horse during his racing career filed a notice last week with the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) requesting that the agency entertain an appeal of a recent board of stewards decision disqualifying the horse from the race and to stay the purse distribution. In response, the CHRB have denied a stay of the stewards' decision but stated that it will "assign a Hearing Officer in this matter where...

Southern California-based trainer Milton Pineda has been banned for 15 years and ordered to pay a total of $195,000 in fines and legal fees after an arbitration panel found him guilty of seven rule violations under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Unit (HIWU)'s Anti-Doping and Medication Control (AMDC) program, according to a final decision dated Mar. 12. Between June 2 and July 4 last year, seven different Pineda-trainees tested positive for Diisopropylamine—a banned substance under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA)—after running at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos. During...

The long-running battle to decide whether or not Justify (Scat Daddy) should have been disqualified from his win in the 2018 GI Santa Anita Derby seems to have come to a conclusion last week when the team representing Mick Ruis, the owner and trainer of runner-up Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), obtained an order from Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff, directing the California Horse Racing Board Stewards to set aside their Dec. 9, 2020 decision and issue a new ruling disqualifying Justify from the 2018 Santa Anita...

Hong Kong Harry (Ire) (Es Que Love {Ire}), who crossed the wire second in the GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic S. at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby Day was officially disqualified by the Churchill Downs stewards in an Aug. 26 ruling. The ruling came after the post-race urine sample and a subsequent split sample tested positive for the substance mofebutazone. In addition, trainer Phil D'Amato was fined $1,000 and owners Scott Anasstasi, Jimmy Ukegawa and Tony Valazazz had to forfeit $194,000 in purse earnings. D'Amato and the owners waived...

Trainer Wesley Ward has begun serving a 15-day suspension after a horse he trained tested positive for the substances naproxen and metformin following a July 15, 2022, race at Monmouth. Ward's suspension began June 23 and ends July 7. He was also fined $2,000. The Paulick Report was first with the story. The infraction occurred in a five-furlong maiden special weight race on the turf with the gelding Insanity It Seems (Tale of the Cat), who won by 2 1/4 lengths. The horse, who is also owned by Ward, has...

As the deadline looms for congress to insert language into the full year-end omnibus spending bill to fix constitutional question marks surrounding the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA), proponents and critics of the law have taken to an epistolary standoff. Last week, trainers Wesley Ward and Larry Rivelli issued a letter through the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) critiquing various aspects of the national program for "too many flaws, missteps and costs that could have been averted with true inclusion and transparency in its development." Earlier this...

California's Red Baron's Barn and Rancho Temescal--the nom de course of the Cohen family--lost the stable founder and the Cohen family patriarch, Jed Cohen, Sunday, Nov. 27. Cohen passed away in Del Mar at the age of 89 after battling health issues for the past few years. Among the top horses raced by the Cohens--sometimes in partnership--were GISWs Janet (GB) (Emperor Jones), River Boyne (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), and Dr. Schivel (Violence). The stable most recently took the leading owner title at the 2022 Santa Anita fall and winter meets...

Trainer Wesley Ward has been suspended 30 days and fined $500 as a result of Averly Jane (Midshipman) testing positive for the diabetes medication metformin after winning the Kentucky Juvenile S. at Churchill Downs on Apr. 28 last year, according to a recent Kentucky stewards ruling. Fifteen of those 30 days have been stayed, however, due to Ward's overall record and number of violations, and on condition that the trainer receives no Class A or Class B medication violations over the next year. Ward will serve the other 15 days...

After 15 years as California's equine medical director, Dr. Rick Arthur has stepped away from the post. A vocal proponent of tightened welfare practices in the sport, Arthur has spearheaded during his tenure a slew of equine safety reforms that have made California arguably the most stringent regulatory environment in the States. Arthur's forthrightness, however, has led to him staking out positions that have at times proven polarizing. The day after Arthur officially stepped down, he conducted a Q&A with the TDN, the first part of which can be seen...

The John Sadler-trained Flagstaff (Speightstown) has been disqualified from a second-place finish in last September's GII Santa Anita Sprint Championship S. after testing positive for clodronic acid, a bisphosphonate otherwise known as Osphos, according to a steward's ruling from Saturday. According to the ruling, the $40,000 in prize money earnings awarded to owners Lane's End Racing and Hronis Racing, jockey Victor Espinoza and Sadler will be redistributed. Currently unclassified, clodronic acid is by default deemed a class 1, penalty A drug, and it's currently in the process of being classified...

Having practiced law for more than 25 years, attorney Darrell Vienna has pretty much seen all there is to see when it comes to equine law, drug infractions, penalties and how racing commissions and courts interpret the rules. A former trainer based in California, he is renowned as one of the foremost experts in his field. So when it comes to the case of Medina Spirit (Protonico) and the positive test for betamethasone following the GI Kentucky Derby, his brain is well worth picking.  And Vienna has said that he...

The John Sadler-trained Flagstaff (Speightstown) tested positive for Clodronic Acid, a bisphosphonate otherwise known as Osphos, after finishing second at Santa Anita Sept. 27 last year, according to a California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) complaint. As per the complaint, dated Mar. 24, an Osphos positive is a Class 1, Category A penalty. A split sample confirmed the original finding, the complaint states. Sadler is currently on a year's probation in accordance with a settlement agreement and mutual release with the CHRB, as part of which Sadler was fined $15,000 and...