Jorge Duarte Jr.

Speaking publicly for the first time since he was caught on video striking the horse National Law (Constitution) in the face with his whip after the field crossed the wire in Tuesday's fifth race at Parx, jockey Paco Lopez posted a tweet Thursday in which he admitted he was at fault. "I take full responsibility for my actions," Lopez wrote. "I am aware that our sport is under a lot of scrutiny and I fully apologize to everyone involved in our sport--fans, horsemen, management, racing commissions, HISA and of course,...

5th-Parx Racing, $50,400, Msw, 12-3, 2yo, 1m 70y, 1:47.82, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. NATIONAL LAW (c, 2, Constitution--Susie's Baby, by Giant's Causeway) provided some very anxious moments for his backers as the even-money favorite at third asking here. He stalked the early leaders from an outside third and took over midway on the far turn. He kicked for home as the one to catch, and, after opening a seven-length lead at the stretch call, things began to get quite interesting. National Law drifted out badly to the outer rail down...

7th-Laurel, $48,305, Msw, 11-16, 2yo, 6f, 1:11.43, ft, 1 length. YARA'S QUEST (c, 2, Liam's Map--Yara {GSW, $398,390}, by Put It Back), given a 4-1 chance in this debut run, was hustled to the front from his inside draw and raced under pressure through an opening quarter in :22.64. Overtaken approaching the quarter pole and appearing to be heading the wrong way, Yara's Quest was resurgent along the rail in the stretch and battled back gamely to record a one-length victory over On the Level (Classic Empire). The winner is...

I read with interest the TDN article about Jorge Duarte, which is the latest in a pattern of stories about trainers (George Weaver, Rusty Arnold, etc.) with positive tests that have seemingly come from contamination. Glen Hill Farm has been racing and breeding horses since 1967. We are an American-based operation but have been building in Europe and Australia for the last decade. Having served on many industry boards, I always understood the goal for medication reform was for American racing to first have uniformity between states and then hopefully...

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...