Demand for i= ndustry clean-up could repeat history

By PETE HERRERA

&= nbsp; SureBet Racing News – (May 1, 20= 09) S= ometimes in order to move forward, it’s a good idea to look back.

&= nbsp; Take the growing outcry and finger-pointing surrounding the so-labeled “ma= gic potions” allegedly being given to racehorses in New Mexico.

Trainers are accusing other trainers of using illegal performance enhancing drugs and are demanding the State Racing Commission catch the culprits. They allege the doping is primarily being do= ne on Quarter Horses.

&= nbsp; The Racing Commission is investigating and says it’s doing everything it = can. So far, there’s no smoking gun and no has been implicated. There̵= 7;s been no positive test for some mysterious chemical and nothing more than vitamins and other totally legal substances have been found in the samples = the Racing Commission has been able to obtain through its investigative work.

&= nbsp; The one exception, says Racing Commission Agency Director Julian Luna, is one c= ase where a racehorse was given Viagra. That’s definitely on the list of prohibited substances.

&= nbsp; All of this drama isn’t new to the state’s racing industry. The sta= te went through a similar situation more than 20 years ag= o. Then, as now, it started out with rampant rumors, but by the time it was ov= er, the state’s racing industry was sporting a black eye and nearly 50 traine= rs had been implicated.

&= nbsp; It took the FBI’s involvement to clean up that mess.

&= nbsp; The man chosen by then Gov. Garrey Carruthers to restore credibility and clean barns to racing in New Mexico was current U.S. 10^th Circuit Cour= t of Appeals Judge Harris Hartz.

&= nbsp; Hartz, who would go on to serve on the New Mexico Court of Appeals and has been on= the federal bench for more than seven years, was named chairman of the State Ra= cing Commission. Carruthers felt he needed someone with a strong background in l= aw enforcement and Hartz had been executive director of the Governor’s C= rime Prevention Commission.

&= nbsp; The first thing Hartz did was hire a retired FBI agent, Bill Meincke.

&= nbsp; ``He was one of the top people in the (FBI) bureau,’’ Hartz told Sur= eBet in a recent interview. ``The people who were on the (Racing Commission) sta= ff weren’t trained as law enforcement and he trained them to be law enforcement people.’’

&= nbsp; How bad was the problem? Bad enough, says Hartz, that it had even infiltrated t= he All American Futurity, the country’s most prestigious Quarter Horse r= ace.

&= nbsp; Hartz said samples taken from horses that ran in one of the All Americans in the mid-80s showed, ``there were something like six drugged horses in the finals.’’ Hartz said the testing, which was done by a laborator= y in Illinois, turned up positives for narcotics and steroids.=

&= nbsp; Hartz said the drugs were found in samples that had been previously tested and declared clean by another lab that the state was using at the time. Hartz s= aid the same samples were sent to the Illinois laboratory and that lab found the banned substances.

&= nbsp; Under Hartz, the Racing Commission expanded its testing procedures. He says if yo= u do enough testing, sooner or later, the cheaters will be found.
&= nbsp; ``It’s a matter of taking enough urine samples,’’ he said. ``I think we were taking two or three a race. We were testing several horses a race and = then making sure there was a test for the drug they might be using.’’= ;

&= nbsp; Hartz headed the State Racing Commission for less than two years. He accepted an appointment to the State Court of Appeals, but by the time he left, there w= ere cases against at least 45 trainers for the use of banned drugs.<= /span>

&= nbsp; ``I left before the rubber hit the road on the prosecution of those cases,’’ Hartz said.

&= nbsp; Hartz said unlike the current situation, most of the complaints and allegations of doping came from the betting public.

&= nbsp; ``One of the ironies was when we started the testing, = the spokesman for the trainers kept saying it wasn’t going on. This is al= l rumor and there is no drugging. Then when we find a lo= t of people, they say, don’t be hard on them, they only did it because everyone else was. I thought, those two arguments are not consistent.’’

&= nbsp; Hartz, as one might surmise by his rise to the position he now holds on the federal bench, took a no-nonsense, zero tolerance-type approach in dealing with the crisis of doping while he was chairman of the Racing Commission.=

&= nbsp; Some of the implicated trainers tried to have him disqualified from hearing their cases because they knew where he stood.

&= nbsp; ``I had said that anyone who gave banned substances to a horse that would enhan= ce his performance should be banned for life. I thought that was the appropria= te penalty for someone who does that,’’ said Hartz.

&= nbsp; His position hasn’t changed. And while he’s reluctant to offer advi= ce to the current governing body, it’s clear = the Racing Commission under his leadership wasn’t interested in slapping wrists.

&= nbsp; “Our view was that we would not compromise and if the cases were lost before the Commission or were lost in the courts,” Hartz said. “We would l= earn from our mistakes. But we needed to pursue them.’’

&= nbsp; And that’s what the trainers making the accusations want the current Raci= ng Commission to do.

&= nbsp; One veteran New Mexico trainer who spoke with SureBet on the condition that he = remain anonymous, said there is no doubt in his mind t= hat doping is going on.

&= nbsp; ``It’s extremely bad, it’s horrible,’’ said the trainer. ``There’s probably seven to 10 trainers that are d= oing it.’’

&= nbsp; Quarter Horse trainer Carl Draper testified at a Racing Commission meeting earlier = this year and said the drugs or mixture he and other trainers believe are being = used can transform a lower level horse into an allowance winner overnight.<= /o:p>

&= nbsp; ``It’s magic,’’ Draper told the commissioners. ``Here’s what the medication they’re running on does to a horse. It kills the pain. Kil= ls the fear, kills the nervousness and kills exhaustion. He runs like Go Man Go with no mistakes.’’

&= nbsp; The trainer who didn’t want to be quoted by name echoed Draper’s allegations. He said horses that he believed are being hopped up perform po= orly in workouts, but run to the top of their game on race day.

&= nbsp; ``On a day to day basis, their horses come on the track and are sore as hell. Th= ey limp. They go from side to side, but on race day they’re machines,’’ he said. ``This has gone on too long. The other thi= ng is the commission doesn’t do anything once they are caught.’= 217;

&= nbsp; Luna said the Racing Commission is being aggressive in its investigation. He not= es the chemical samples investigators have been able to obtain – sometim= es through undercover work—are being sent to more than one lab.

&= nbsp; ``We’re sending it to one of the top chemists in the country as well. I’ve ev= en had the (Albuquerque Police Department) lab look into it.’’

&= nbsp; But he says the Racing Commission doesn’t want to over-react.<= /span>

&= nbsp; ``They’re running for a lot of money and there’s a lot of frustration out there,’’ Luna said. ``We have to be careful not to over-react because certain trainers are winning and certain trainers are not winning. = Our responsibility is to insure that the integrity is there and we do everything within our capabilities to find anything that could possibly be used.’’

&= nbsp; Luna said solving problems in racing requires a cooperative effort, from the Rac= ing Commission to trainers, horse owners and track management.

&= nbsp; ``Trainers and owners have a certain responsibility, too,’’ said Luna. Eve= ry time a trainer doesn’t win a race, he goes back and tells his owner t= hat it was the racetrack surface or there was an issue or a problem. That Joe B= low is using something that he can’t use or doesn’t want to use. I’m hoping that this isn’t going on, but anything is a possibility.’’

&= nbsp; One thing is sure. It’s happened before.

&= nbsp; And like before, it may be time for the governor to step in and help the Racing Commission make sure everyone is playing by the rules in one of New Mexico’s most important industries.