Racing Board Dismisses Charges Against Trainer Schvaneveldt

The California Horse Racing Board has dismissed charges against Blane Schvaneveldt, a premier quarter horse trainer who saddled a horse that tested positive for cocaine at Los Alamitos in November 1989.

Donald Calabria, Schvaneveldt’s attorney, said Friday that after a second test of the urine from the horse, the board conceded that there was not enough evidence to continue the case. Dennis Hutcheson, executive secretary of the board, could not be reached for comment.

“The charges against Blane have been dismissed without prejudice,” Calabria said. “This means that they cannot be refiled again.”

Since late in 1988, about two dozen trainers have run horses in California that tested positive for cocaine. Charges against many of them have been dismissed, including those against nationally known Wayne Lukas and the late Laz Barrera. Charges are still pending against at least 10 trainers.

“The racing board is getting more enlightened about all these positives,” Calabria said. “They are giving trainers slaps on the wrist until they can investigate any charges fully. This is a people problem, not a trainer problem. People on the backstretch are using cocaine, and somehow the drug is getting into the horse and into the samples.”

According to Calabria, the family of Barrera, who died in April, is continuing the trainer’s $25-million lawsuit against Truesdail Laboratories, the Tustin facility that detected cocaine in one of Barrera’s horses.