Suspension

Frankie Dettori has picked up a three-day ban for interference caused in the fifth race, a 2-year-old fillies' maiden, at Santa Anita Saturday. The jockey is suspended for Nov. 5, 10 and 11, though he is already banned from riding for the last two dates for overuse of the whip on British Champions Day at Ascot. At Santa Anita, Dettori's mount Circle Of Trust (Union Rags) finished first past the post for trainer Philip D'Amato but was later disqualified and placed last after the stewards looked into an incident on...

Hollie Doyle will miss the ride on Bradsell (GB) (Tasleet {GB}) at next week's Breeders' Cup after failing in her appeal against the severity of a careless riding ban. Doyle incurred a seven-day suspension for her ride at Kempton last week. The British Horseracing Authority's independent disciplinary panel heard Doyle's appeal Thursday morning. The jockey contested the length of the ban rather than the riding offence itself. After hearing submissions from Charlotte Davison, representing the BHA, and Rory Mac Neice for Doyle, the panel concluded the original penalty should stand,...

Trainer Keri Brion, whose stable includes both flat and steeplechase horses, has been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) after a horse she trained allegedly tested positive for cocaine following a Sept. 19 race at Presque Isle Downs. The horse, Chasing After You (Speightstown), won the race, a $25,000 claiming event. Provisional suspensions can result in suspensions of up to two years. The suspension has been postponed because Brion has yet to either request a split sample or inform HIWU that she has waived her right...

Trainer Linda Rice has been suspended 14 days and fined $2,000 by the New York State Gaming Commission after a filly under her care returned a positive test for the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug phenylbutazone following a 9 1/2-length win as the 4-5 favorite at Aqueduct Racetrack more than eight months ago. Rice has appealed the Sept. 28 ruling, so she has been granted a stay of those penalties pending a final resolution. The NYSGC also made it public on Friday that Rice will be appearing before the commission for a...

Jockey Katie Davis will be suspended from riding the first seven days of the 2024 Saratoga Race Course season after she opted not to appeal a "careless riding" penalty handed down by the stewards. The ruling follows the disqualification of her mount on the final Saturday of this summer's meet. According to the ruling dated Sept. 17, the infraction occurred in Saratoga's sixth race Sept. 2, a New York-bred maiden special weight over 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Davis was aboard the 52-1 first-timer Vin Santo (Vino Rosso), who...

Owner Amr Zedan and trainer Bob Baffert, connections of the ill-fated Medina Spirit (Protonico), filed a petition for a judicial review of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commissions's disqualification of the colt from his win in the 2021 GI Kentucky Derby. The news, first reported by Bloodhorse, noted that the petition was filed in Franklin Circuit Court in Kentucky Tuesday and also includes a protest over Baffert's suspension in Kentucky. BloodHorse reported that Zedan and Baffert claim in the petition that the "laboratory limit of detection" used to identify betamethasone in...

After a hearing before an arbitral body, trainer Jeffrey Poole has been hit with a 22-month suspension by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) after it was alleged that Poole possessed the banned substance Levothyroxine. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to make a payment of $8,000 to cover arbitration costs. Poole did not have a horse test positive for the substance. Levothyroxine, commonly known by the trade name Thyro-L, is a synthetic version of the naturally-occurring hormone thyroxine. Thyroxine is produced by the thyroid and works with...

Brothers Irad Ortiz Jr., and Jose Ortiz will both serve three-day "careless riding" suspensions Aug. 9-11 that were imposed by the Saratoga Race Course stewards for separate infractions that involved winning rides last week. Both jockeys elected not to appeal their penalties. Irad Ortiz crossed the wire first but got disqualified aboard 1.45-1 favorite Eyes On Target (Exaggerator) in the seventh race July 27, a $25,000 claiming turf route. The Equibase chart stated that in upper stretch, his mount "was under a light drive in behind the top pair just...

Jockey Flavien Prat will sit out next Wednesday through Friday at Saratoga Race Course after opting not to appeal a three-day "careless riding" suspension incurred there in race eight on July 14. Prat was aboard 9-year-old Happy Farm (Ghostzapper) in a $50,000 claiming sprint. He got forced out soon after the six-furlong start, but settled in the seven path. Prat guided the gelding closer to the rail entering the turn, then cut from the three path down to the fence in front of Thinkaboutit (Uncaptured), who took up sharply while...

Attorney Alan Pincus Discusses HIWU Suspensions on the TDN Writers' Room.

Jockey Raul E. Mena is appealing a 15-day suspension and $1,000 fine imposed by the Delaware Park stewards after a "failure to give best effort" ruling was lodged against him following a last-place finish aboard a 1-for-19 filly who trailed at every call in a $5,000 NW2L claiming sprint June 28. Sarah Crane, the executive director of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission (DTRC), confirmed in an email that Mena, 31, has been granted a stay of his penalties until a Sept. 19 hearing. But Crane declined an opportunity to address...

Churchill Downs Incorporated is extending the suspension of Bob Baffert through calendar year 2024 based on what Churchill Downs called "continued concerns regarding the threat to the safety and integrity of racing he poses to CDI-owned racetracks." Churchill released the following statement: "Mr. Baffert continues to peddle a false narrative concerning the failed drug test of Medina Spirit at the 147th Kentucky Derby from which his horse was disqualified by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission in accordance with Kentucky law and regulations. Prior to that race, Mr. Baffert signed an agreement...