Wygod Lawyers Want to Talk to Board Exec

Marty Wygod, the owner of Sweet Catomine, the filly whose brilliant career ended in controversy in the Santa Anita Derby, said Sunday that his attorneys have subpoenaed Ingrid Fermin, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board, to give a deposition regarding the case.

Although Wygod, speaking by phone from Rancho Santa Fe, did not say that he planned to sue the racing board, the deposition could be a preliminary to legal action. Charges against Wygod, including the illegal transporting of Sweet Catomine to an off-track clinic five days before the race, were dropped April 23 because of insufficient evidence.

One of Wygod’s attorneys said at a hearing that Fermin had been subpoenaed to testify, but she denied receiving notice and said she was attending a racing conference in Lexington, Ky.

Wygod, speaking on Sunday, repeated what his attorney said, that Fermin had been subpoenaed for the hearing.

Sweet Catomine, considered a strong contender for the Kentucky Derby, finished fifth as the favorite in the Santa Anita Derby. She has been retired and will be bred later this month to A.P. Indy in Kentucky.

Charges against Julio Canani, Sweet Catomine’s trainer, also were dismissed by the racing board.

The van driver who misidentified Sweet Catomine when she left Santa Anita, referring to her as a stable pony, still faces charges from state stewards.

“There was a conspiracy to get me,” Wygod said, declining to name whom he thought might be involved. Fermin has said that the investigation of the Sweet Catomine affair was a “faulty procedure.”

In response to suggestions that Sweet Catomine had been retired without cause, Wygod said that X-rays of the filly’s left rear leg showed a spot, something that wasn’t there, Wygod said, when she was X-rayed after her win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies last year.

Wygod said that 90% of horses might have continued running, but veterinarians in Sweet Catomine’s case recommended surgery. Wygod said that the downside to the surgery could be the filly’s getting osteoarthritis.

Asked if he planned to race the A.P. Indy-Sweet Catomine foal, Wygod said: “I might be getting out of the business. I’m seriously thinking about it, and I’m going to discuss it with my family. I’ve been in this 40 years, and it might be time to move on.”