Trainer Robertino Diodoro, provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after the alleged discovery of the banned substance levothyroxine in his stables at Oaklawn ParkEnter a horse to race now Lone Star Park April 18. He is eligible to race in Texas, which is not under the jurisdiction of the Horseracing Safety and Integrity Authority.
“We do not honor the (HIWU) rulings based on the legal conflict over the Texas Racing Act currently being litigated,” Amy Cook, executive director of the Texas Racing Commission, wrote in an email. ” She pointed to a Texas reciprocity rule that race stewards and referees must respect rulings made by other pari-mutuel racing commissions.
The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, of which HIWU is the enforcement agency for drug violations, is not a horseracing commission but a private self-regulatory organization created by Congress. Its constitutionality is being contested in court.
Diodoro also owns the imported horse, Master of disguise , who is scheduled to compete on the opening night of the Lone Star Park spring meet in a $33,000 debut special weight contest after starting three times previously this year at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. The Own The gelding emerged on April 11 at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.
Levothyroxine, a thyroid supplement and synthetic version of a hormone called thyroxine, was banned by HIWU after years of excessive use in the racing industry. Diodoro has been temporarily suspended until the case is reviewed by HIWU’s Board of Internal Adjustments and then by a federal administrative law judge. The resolution of the incident has not yet been posted on the HIWU website.
Upon the discovery of levothyroxine, Diodoro was asked to leave the Oaklawn facility and all of his horses housed at the track will need to be removed from housing by the end of March, Oaklawn Park president Louis Cella previously said. told BloodHorse. His entered starters were still allowed to race there on March 29 and two were winners, including Carnival in Temperence Hill Shares.
The trainer then raced two other horses Lawn paradise in Arizona on April 2-3, who were previously entered and allowed to compete under HISA Rules. Those traces are under HISA’s supervision.
The Texas Horse Racing Commission believes that it alone is authorized to regulate thoroughbred horse racing in the state. Texas tracks have been unable to domestically broadcast their out-of-state Thoroughbred meets since July 2022, when the commission declined to enforce HISA safety rules and regulations.
States like Texas, as well as others like West Virginia and Louisiana, are not monitored by HISA. West Virginia and Louisiana were exempted because entities there successfully mounted legal challenges that resulted in relief from the ban.
Diodoro is not the first coach suspended by HISA to reappear in inactive states under HISA’s jurisdiction. In another example, trainer Jonathan Wong, who previously raced mainly in California and Kentucky, began racing in Louisiana after being suspended for two years by HIWU after one of his horses tested positive calculated with metformin, a drug commonly used by people to treat type 2 diabetes. diabetes.
Matt Vance, Lone Star Park’s vice president of racing operations, did not respond to a phone message seeking comment, said John Holleman, the attorney for whom Diodoro directed media inquiries after the order. His temporary suspension was announced.
In addition to regulatory action, racetracks can often influence racers at their facilities by refusing stalls or instituting bans on private ownership.
