I plead “INNOCENT.”
I have been provisionally suspended as a trainer for six months and could be suspended for two years and have to pay $25,000 after being notified by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit that the blood test of my mare, Lady Liv , conducted June 24 after she finished third in a race at Delaware Park came back positive for the human medicine metforin. Metforin comes in tablet form and is a diabetes medicine that does NOT improve horse performance in the slightest in competition.
HIWU did not tell me the amount of the medicine found in Lady Liv’s blood. They did not give me any possibility of prior defense before being sanctioned. I am simply out of the races in all jurisdictions where the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has authority. Now I have to face this very difficult moment.
None of my horses will be able to participate in horse races—even if I give them to another trainer to train—because I am also the owner. Because I am sanctioned as the owner they cannot (run). That is to say: Either I sell them or I give them away or I will have to keep them without any income until my suspension ends.
People who know me both in my native country and here in the United States know that I am a lover of horses. They know that they have cost me a lot of money and I can affirm that I have also dedicated a lot of time of my life to them—to such an extent that I stop giving time to my children and family for them—my horses.
I am incapable of contaminating (drugging) them. I treat them and take care of them better than any other person, even if others don’t believe it, and even if they call me crazy.
Now I have had to hire a lawyer (Alan Pincus) to defend me. I trust that all this is a human error and that the split sample is negative. I trust God that it will be so.
Javier E. Morzan
Chuncho Bravo Stable & Farm
(North Miami, Fla.)
More Commitment Needed
From our Track Owners
It sickened me to hear Belinda Stronach announce that Golden Gates Fields will close at the end of its fall meet. Churchill Downs Inc. and (the Stronach Group) have been doing their best to put an end to horse racing in America.
Churchill got rid of Hollywood Park, Calder Race Course, and Arlington International Racecourse. Hollywood Park is now SoFi Stadium and Arlington will be the future home to the Chicago Bears and Calder is next to Hard Rock Stadium. Belinda Stronach got rid of Portland Meadows and now Golden Gate! Stronach Group is letting the facilities at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore deteriorate and hasn’t spent a dime on the Home of the Preakness Stakes (G1) in years.
Both companies get rid of racetracks but have the nerve to buy other racetracks. Churchill Downs bought Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., because of the added gambling and money they could make there. And Stronach Group for some strange reason bought a racetrack in Arizona.
With Churchill getting rid of Arlington, that changes the whole landscape of horse racing in Illinois in terms of races specific to the track, like the Arlington Million (G1T), and, of course, the loss of jobs. They could have sold to an organization that would have kept the track AND also placed a new NFL stadium on the property. It is good to know that at least the John Henry statue will be placed at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
With the upcoming closing of Golden Gate, Thoroughbred racing may all but disappear in Northern California. Bay Meadows closed a few years ago and now Stronach Group expects trainers and stables to relocate to Southern California.
I was at Hollywood Park during its last weekend of existence, at Arlington a few months before it closed, and now I plan to visit Golden Gate as well to document it for future generations.
Belinda Stronach and Churchill Downs in the future should sell to another organization that will keep horse racing going rather than getting rid of horse racing. Do better!
Kevin Grace
Baltimore
