Racing Board Denies Stein’s Appeal : Six-Month Suspension, $2,000 Fine to Stand, CHRB Says

Trainer Roger Stein’s appeal of a stewards’ suspension and fine was denied by the California Horse Racing Board at its meeting Friday at the Albany City Hall.

By a 5-1 vote, the board accepted an opinion by Amanda Behe, an administrative law judge, that Stein be suspended for six months and fined $2,000 for running a horse that tested positive for cocaine after a $10,000 claiming race last October at Santa Anita.

Behe’s recommendation to the board came after she heard 20 hours of testimony during two days of hearings earlier this year. Stein’s horse, Emperor’s Turn, finished second in the race.

Stein also must serve a year of probation. Theoretically, the suspension and probation period are scheduled to start on April 10, but one of Stein’s attorneys, Ken Lewis, said that he will file for a court stay of the ruling. Not unexpectedly, Lewis also plans to file an appeal on behalf of Stein in Superior Court in Los Angeles.

Emperor’s Turn’s post-race test was the first in a series of cocaine positives that have shaken the racing community. Crown Collection, a horse trained by Wayne Lukas, has tested positive for cocaine twice. Laz Barrera and his son, Albert, have each run horses that tested positive, as have two other California trainers, Bryan Webb and Tony Hemmerick.

No penalties have been assessed against the other trainers, who all plan to appeal the positive tests. Lukas, who last year won the Kentucky Derby and three Breeders’ Cup races, and Laz Barrera, the winner of two Kentucky Derbys, are two of the most famous trainers in racing.

Stein’s attorneys were optimistic that Behe would disagree with the Santa Anita stewards’ ruling, so her opinion and its endorsement by the racing board should send out a message to attorneys representing the other trainers: Proof of contaminated urine samples must be airtight and the trainer-responsibility rule will be difficult to overturn.

“We are disappointed,” Lewis said. “We thought we had established that the cocaine didn’t go through the horse’s system. We’re hoping that a judge will see it differently.”

At the end of Friday’s meeting, the racing board privately reviewed Behe’s sealed recommendation and returned about a half-hour later with its decision.

Commissioner Ben Felton prevented the vote from being unanimous. Felton felt that Stein should be suspended for only three months.

After the meeting, Len Foote, executive secretary for the racing board, said that there have been no other positive tests for cocaine since the first seven. The state’s testing laboratory, using more sophisticated equipment, has been re-testing hundreds of frozen urine samples, dating back to last summer.

“There have been some positives, but none for a major drug like cocaine,” Foote said. “I’m surprised that there haven’t been some for cocaine.”

In earlier business at Friday’s meeting, an attempt by commissioner Ray Seeley to prevent private veterinarians from treating horses on race day was stalled, pending a meeting by the racing board’s medication committee on April 10.

Seeley’s motion, which died for lack of a second, would have required that state veterinarians administer Lasix--a diuretic commonly given to horses that bleed--on race day. Private veterinarians would have been allowed in the stable area only in case of emergencies and only with the approval of the stewards.

“The plan has merit,” said Rosemary Ferraro, chairman of the medication committee, “but it would be premature to go ahead with it this soon.”

Leslie Liscom, chairman of the racing board, has appointed an industry-wide committee to study medication issues, and its members are to report to the board’s medication committee before the April 10 meeting.

“The media has been hard on me, so now I hope they’ll give me credit even though this didn’t pass,” Seeley said. “States that have adopted a rule like this aren’t having problems. Someone has to accept the responsibility for these positive tests we’ve been getting. The only way to eliminate our problems is to have control on race day.”

Cary Budahn, a veterinarian who is president of the Western Standardbred Assn., was upset by the tone of Seeley’s remarks. Budahn is a member of the Liscom committee.

“It would have been an outrage if the racing board voted on this before our panel meets,” Budahn said. “It is a personal insult by the board to condemn veterinarians. I’ve been around horses all my life, and nobody’s ever told me how to make a (drug) cocktail.”

The racing board approved quarter horse dates at Los Alamitos. The season will begin on May 5 and run through July 22. After a break for the Orange County Fair, the quarter horses resume running on Aug. 15 and the season ends on Sept. 9. Also approved were Hollywood Park’s thoroughbred dates, from April 26 through July 24.

Liscom, Ferraro and Seeley did not vote on the dates, abiding by a court decision that said they are in conflict of interest in matters regarding Hollywood Park, which owns Los Alamitos. Allowed to vote was board member William Lansdale. Charges by harness-racing horsemen of a conflict of interest against Lansdale were dismissed by a judge this week.