Joe Sharp

Like most owners, Joe Sutton asks only for a level playing field, which is why he is still trying to make sense of the fact that Blackberry Wine (Oxbow) will be allowed to run in Saturday's fourth race at Oaklawn against his colt Scabbard (More Than Ready). Blackberry Wine has crossed the wire first on three occasions, but, so far as his official record goes, only one counts. He was disqualified from purse money in two of his starts after testing positive for the drug levamisole. Because of the demotions,...

Three more Joe Sharp horses have been disqualified from purse money for testing positive for the drug levamisole, this time in Kentucky, according to a report in Daily Racing Form. The news comes after nine Sharp horses were DQ'ed for the same drug in Louisiana earlier this year. Sharp previously said that he had five horses test positive for the drug last fall at Churchill and was awaiting word from Churchill stewards on the matter. Levamisole is listed as a Class 2 drug by the Association of Racing Commissioners International,...

Silver Dust (Tapit), who scored in Saturday's GIII Mineshaft S. at Fair Grounds, has been disqualified and placed last for his previous victory, in the GIII Louisiana S. Jan. 18, due to a failed drug test, according to a report in the Daily Racing Form. The Bret Calhoun-trained gray tested positive for levamisole, the same drug that got eight Joe Sharp trainees disqualified from wins at the meet earlier this month. Calhoun is married to Sharp's mother, Sara Escudero, and the two trainers' barns at Fair Grounds are next to...

Eight horses trained by Joe Sharp at the Fair Grounds meet have been disqualified after testing positive for the drug levamisole. Sharp said that he had another five horses who tested positive for the same drug last fall at Churchill and he is awaiting word from Churchill Downs stewards on that matter. The Louisiana positives were first reported by the Daily Racing Form. The Louisiana horses were all placed last and Sharp was fined $1,000 for each infraction. Levamisole, which Sharp said was found in an over-the-counter deworming product he...

Old Chapel Farm has built a reputation over the last few years as a boutique weanling-to-yearling pinhooking operation, but owner Andrew Motion decided to look for a more diversified investment and took advantage of the opportunity of his daughter Mary's trip to last month's Keeneland January Horses of All Ages Sale. "My dad has been pinhooking, but now it's just crazy money,"  Mary Motion explained. "He has a broodmare background, so we thought we would get more of a long-term investment out of the mares. I originally went down to...