Trainer Doug O’Neill was fined $5,000 for not posting five signs prohibiting temporary detention for entry horses on July 5 at the Los Alamitos . Racecourse, according to a judgment of the California Horse Racing Board.
The December 31 ruling, made under the settlement, cited O’Neill in violation of CHRB rule #1845(c)(2)(A) in the section relating to the treatment of antidiarrheal drugs. authorized blood.
Specifically, the rule requires that any horse scheduled to receive a Lasix be assigned a pre-race guard by the scheduled post time and have a custody sign.
The manager’s brief ruling did not specifically address some of the allegations in the original CHRB complaint, issued on October 22. That document states that on July 5 “the investigators” received information from the Los Alamitos track security manager, Michael Kilpack, that someone at Doug O’Neill’s Stables trainer was able to introduce a drug into a horse that had participated in a race at Doug O’Neill. LARC (Los Alamitos) Investigators conducted a cage inspection at trainer Doug O’Neill’s cage, #14W (barn 20-25), at LARC.
“During the inspection of the stables, investigators did not observe any pre-race ‘Detention Barn Sign’ posted on any stalls prior to the time of the race in which the horses were placed. to enter.
“Investigators interviewed assistant coach Sabas Rivera. Rivera said he gave the ‘Bleeder Shield’ and ‘Un-Lock’ to the horses yesterday, which is 24 hours before the race. “
Online websites advertise Bleeder Shield as a blood thinner for horses and Un-Lock as a muscle amino acid supplement that reduces lactic acid and prevents horses from tying up.
Mike Marten, a spokesman for CHRB, said their office did not receive the most recent minutes from managers, which sometimes describe in more detail the judgments and actions of other managers. Minutes have also not been posted online as of January 4. The investigator’s report can only be obtained by request of open records, Marten said, and is not available at press time.
In a statement released this fall shortly after the complaint, O’Neill said in part: “I am always responsible for the horses in my care, and if there is any rule violation, then it stops here.”
O’Neill ran five horses at Los Alamitos on July 5, not a single winner. He was 1-1 against Los Alamitos Thoroughbred last summer.
The 53-year-old coach is a two-time winner of the Kentucky (G1) race, now presented by Woodford Reserve, first catching it in 2012 with I will have another and then in 2016 with Nyquist . He was the 18th coach by earnings in North America last year when his stable won 92 races from 676 starts with earnings of more than $7 million.
