Trainer Jonathan Wong has been given a two-year suspension, a $25,000 fine, and will be required to pay $8,000 toward arbitration costs for a metformin positive found last June in Tommy Town Thoroughbreds’ filly Heaven and Earth .
The sanctions were published Feb. 12 by the Horseracing Integrity and Wealth Unit along with a 50-page ruling from arbitrator Nancy Holtz.
Wong has indicated he will appeal the penalties to the Federal Trade Commission or possibly pursue a remedy in federal court.
“By the time this new story breaks, we will have already filed or will be filing our appropriate appeal, whether in Federal Court or with an Administrative Law Judge through the Federal Trade Commission. It is entirely possible we will dual-path this situation and file in both. In all instances, we will seek an Emergency Order with Injunctive Relief. The facts and merits of the case will be heard,” Wong wrote in a joint statement with owner Brent Malmstrom and sent to Thoroughbred Daily News.
Metformin is a drug used to control high blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes. The drug also is listed among the banned substances recognized by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
Wong’s troubles with HIWU began when Heaven and Earth had blood and urine samples collected following her win in a June 1, 2023, maiden special weight at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Industrial Laboratories in Denver analyzed the samples and reported a positive result for metformin. Wong was provisionally suspended effective July 2, and the following day the trainer’s attorney requested to have the split sample, or B sample, tested.
During this time, the Anti-Doping and Medication Control program administered by HIWU made a change that stayed provisional suspensions until a B sample confirmed the presence of a prohibited substance. The new rule took effect July 28, so Wong was provisionally suspended July 2-28.
The University of Illinois at Chicago Analytical Forensic Testing Laboratory analyzed the blood and urine B samples and confirmed presence of metformin. Wong’s provisional suspension was reinstated Aug. 10.
In November, Wong’s hearing was scheduled for Jan. 9-10, and then Dec. 13 HIWU submitted a motion for further analysis, which was granted by the arbitrator. The Kenneth L. Maddy Analytical Chemistry Laboratory at the University of California, Davis confirmed the presence of metformin in blood and urine samples.
No specific “minimum threshold” needs to be exceeded for a metformin positive to be called, according to ADMC rules. The drug only needs to be detected.
Wong has contended that the metformin positive is the result of contamination. For seven months Heaven and Earth’s groom was Luis Perez. This time period included the maiden race at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Perez reportedly left the track during the first week in July last year and returned to Mexico July 15.
In December 2023, the arbitrator’s report notes that Wong was contacted by a former colleague named Artruro Cortez.
“Cortez told Mr. Wong that while he was in Mexico, by happenstance, he had run into Perez,” the report states. “The two got to talking and Cortez mentioned that no one knew why Perez had left in July so abruptly. Cortez told Mr. Wong that Perez told him that he had fled because he was worried that he may have been the cause of the positive finding in Heaven and Earth’s blood and urine. He elaborated that he was taking metformin for a diabetic condition.”
Days before his hearing, Wong produced a sworn statement allegedly from Perez that said the groom had been taking metformin and admitted to urinating in Heaven and Earth’s stall. The arbitrator described the mechanics of how the sworn statement was obtained as “murky.”
“This position is rejected because it is not supported by any credible evidence,” Holtz wrote. “I reject the sworn statement attributed to Perez in which Perez claims to have urinated frequently in the barn occupied by Heaven and Earth. It is without any credibility and given its timing, I find that it is a recent contrivance.”
During the January hearing, Wong’s counsel also presented testimony from Dr. Richard Sams, who raised a number of questions about the validity of the testing results based on how one or more of the labs conducted their tests. Even after raising these questions, Sams acknowledged the risks of a false positive or of contamination of the samples were low, according to the arbitrator’s report.
In the end, Holtz concluded that Wong simply had not offered persuasive evidence of contamination and even undermined his own credibility in some of his efforts. Back in July, Wong told Paulick Report he had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and was taking metformin. He also told HIWU officials he had been taking the drug. Less than a month later, however, Wong reportedly changed his story and sought out a polygraph examiner to establish that he did not know the source of the metformin.
“Accordingly, I find that Mr. Wong has not met his threshold burden of establishing the source of the contamination and thus there is no mitigation that might possibly be considered for Wong, and his sanction should be two years of ineligibility,” she wrote. “Instead of accepting responsibility for this harmful substance finding its way into Heaven and Earth, Mr. Wong chose to blame the agency charged with the protection of the health, welfare and safety of these horses. … When addressing the issue of how the metformin got into Heaven and Earth, Mr. Wong stated: ‘I told them, but it doesn’t matter,’ he said. ‘They don’t care, and that’s the problem.’ ”
Wong will still be able to race in Louisiana, which is not under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority due to ongoing legal challenges. He has a horse entered in a Feb. 13 claiming race at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.
