Mullins Fined After Horse Tests Positive

Jeff Mullins, at the center of a firestorm at Santa Anita, has been fined $1,000 by stewards at the Fair Grounds in New Orleans after one of his horses tested positive for a prohibited medication.

After Mighty Beau, a 6-year-old gelding trained by Mullins, finished second in the $100,000 Taylor’s Special Handicap on Feb. 12, a test showed that there was ranitidine in his system. Ranitidine, an illegal race-day drug, is given to horses with ulcers. Mighty Beau’s owners will be allowed to keep their purse money.

The horses Mullins runs at Santa Anita have been put under 24-hour pre-race surveillance since one of them was found to have an excessive level of sodium bicarbonate in his system after running second in a $150,000 race on Jan. 22. Sodium bicarbonate “milkshakes” reportedly mask other drugs and can slow fatiguing.

Mullins, the second-leading trainer in wins at Santa Anita and No. 1 in the standings there last winter, rankled other horsemen with his recent critique of the game, during which he called horseplayers “idiots.” One trainer, Laura de Seroux, said Monday that Mullins’ stalls at Santa Anita ought to be taken away from him.