Trainers Scott Lake, A. Ferris Allen and Hector Garcia have each been handed suspensions by the Maryland Racing Commission after horses under their care tested positive for stanozolol, a prohibited anabolic steroid only available through drug compounders.
Lake, who at one time was one of the country's leading trainers based in the Midlantic region, was suspended for a total of 60 days beginning this Thursday after two of his horses tested positive for the banned substance. The conditioner was issued two suspensions, but he had not been notified of the first positive at the time the second horse returned a positive test, and therefore he will serve a single, concurrent suspension.
Allen was handed down a$1,000 fine and a 30-day suspension, but had that number pared in half based on his previous record and testimony from a veterinarian relating to the time frame in which the drug was given. The abbreviated penalty is contingent on no further positives within the next 36 months.
Garcia, who is deputizing for the already-suspended Juan Vazquez, was slapped with the stiffest sanctions–more than one year in suspensions–after no fewer than three of the horses in his care tested positive for stanozolol and a fourth tested positive for xylazine, a sedative.
Additionally, each of the trainers was assessed 'points' according to a relatively new multiple medication violations system. Once a trainer has collected three points or more, penalties are amplified based on the number of points they have accrued. For example, Garcia's four positives resulted in 10 points against his record and triggered an additional eight months of suspension. Lake received a $1,000 fine and four points, which, when added to a similar amount received from Pennsylvania, resulted in the 60-day ban.
Sal Sinatra, the vice president and general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, confirmed that Garcia and Vasquez were served with papers demanding them to vacate the grounds of MJC-owned properties within two weeks. Sinatra, who recently came to Maryland from Parx Racing, believes the message being delivered is clear.
“We absolutely want to impress upon trainers that we are trying to clean things up and that we are dead serious about this,” he commented. “We will not tolerate this kind of behavior and will come after those who are found to have broken the rules.”
The use of anabolic steroids was not regulated prior to 2010, but racing commissions–citing therapeutic benefits of the drug–instituted a 30-day withdrawal period. Taking this one step further, the Maryland Racing Commission tightened the standard further by stating that any amount of an anabolic steroid present in the blood represented a violation.
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