Fed indictments up the ante on drugs in racing Posted by noonante on November 26, 2013 Posted in: Horse Racing. Tagged: horse racing and drugs, Penn National indictments. Leave a Comment

While the horse racing world was focused on last week’s Congressional hearing on racing and drugs, a potentially much more significant event occurred a day later.  The federal prosecutor with jurisdiction over Penn National Race Course filed four indictments, three against trainers and one against a clocker.  The trainers were each charged with federal law violations for conduct contrary to the state’s regulatory standards;  the clocker was charged with falsifying workout times.  The potential penalties are severe  -  imprisonment for up to 20 years and a fine of up to $250,000.

Each of the indictments against the trainers (who are being charged individually, not collectively) alleges they either administered a medication not permitted under Pennsylvania law within 24 hours of a race, or had syringes and medications in their barns that were prohibited by the state.  Two of the trainers, Samuel Webb and Patricia Roberts, were literally caught with the syringe in hand.  The third, David Wells, who is third in numbers of wins at Penn this year, is accused of a four-year pattern of violating Pennsylvania’s medication rules.  Clocker Danny Robertson is accused of fabricating workouts and workout times in exchange for payments from trainers.

Anyone familiar with racing knows  -  or suspects  -  that there are drug violations and that some clockers play games with workout times.  That doesn’t make the business unique since all enterprises have their cheats.  But how does this become a federal crime?  Because the simulcasting of Penn’s racing to other states and countries means the federal laws prohibiting wire fraud and the “use of an interstate facility to promote gambling in violation of state law” come into play.  The wire fraud in the case of both illegal doping and incorrect workout information is that bettors are being deceived by being provided with false information  -  through the internet  -  about a horse’s chances in a given race.  The state law violations are those governing the administration of medications and the recording of accurate workout times.

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