Rene Allard

In the case involving high-profile Thoroughbred trainers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis and more than two dozen others, Standardbred horseman Brandon Simpson has pled guilty to one count of drug adulteration and misbranding conspiracy for his role in a scheme to provide horses with performance-enhancing drugs. What makes the Simpson case unusual is that his guilty plea came some three years after the original charges against Navarro, Servis, et. al. were unsealed and there was no mention of Simpson's name in the indictments released at that time. Court records released this...

The former Standardbred trainer Rene Allard, 35, who was third in North America in both wins and purse earnings in the year before he was arrested and indicted in the March 2020 international doping conspiracy investigation, on Tuesday got sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison after having previously pleaded guilty to one felony count of misbranding and altering drugs. Allard's sentence was handed down Nov. 15, shortly after the same judge in United States District Court (Southern District of New York) sent the racetrack veterinarian Louis Grasso to...

Harness trainer Rene Allard, who was third in North America in both wins and purse earnings in the year before he was arrested and indicted in the March 2020 international doping conspiracy investigation, on Thursday changed his plea to "guilty" on one felony count of misbranding and altering drugs. Allard faces up to five years in prison when he gets sentenced Sept. 13. As part of a June 2 plea agreement in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, Allard also agreed to pay a $628,553 money judgment,...

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by eight harness owners who were banned at the tracks owned by Jeff Gural due to their ties with indicted trainer Rene Allard. Gural owns the Meadowlands in New Jersey and Tioga Downs and Vernon Downs in New York. The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning the plaintiffs may file a subsequent suit on the same grounds. Despite the allegations against Allard, he had been cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice to train horses at a South Florida training center,...

Harness trainer Rene Allard has joined the long list of those indicted for their role in a massive horse doping scheme that has rocked Thoroughbred and harness racing. The number of individuals who are known to have been involved is now 29. Allard was not among the original list of names of those who were indicted that was released Monday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Allard is second in the current trainer's standings at Yonkers Raceway, behind only Richard Banca, who has also...