Chapa gets 5 year ban
 

seems roman chapa got caught with a buzzer. can apply for reinstatement in 2012.

dummy.

seems a shame that a cheating trainer can get caught numerous times, get's anywhere from a two week to six month 'vacation' while someone subs, and then right back to it, and a jock gets five years for having an illegal object. yes, he should be punished, but why do trainers get it relatively easy??

If you catch a trainer with a needle in his hand administering a class 1 drug than they should get the same sentence. However, there are also mitigating factors in the case of a trainer being that it is almost impossible to monitor every horse 24 hours a day and the chain of control of the samples being tested is also beyond their control. Anyone who thinks that labs or vets do not make mistakes is dreaming.

Hitting a horse with an electrical device has a whole lot less circumstance surrounding it.

that's true.
but when you have a trainer who repeatedly gets caught, then what?

I agree that a trainer who is a repeat offender, even with relatively minor violations, gets off easy. There probably should be a system similar to a drivers license points system that after a certain number of points accumulated, the penalty gets more severe. And I do believe that any violation with a Class 1 drug is a pretty stiff penalty. (though I am not sure what will happen about our French buddies case)

I bet that chapa's his a**. LOL so punny.

Chapa wrote at Arlington a couple summers ago and rode very well...sad to see this guy have to go this low to win races...he has gotten seriously hurt a few times maybe he isn't the ride he once was physically.

That would suck to have to cheat to beat guys like Gerard Melancon, Steve Bourque, and Jamie Theriot.

Chapa is a sad story.
The guy has been absolutely beaten up.
I thought he had retired.

Desperation... the guy actually has a family to feed.
So I guess its pretty much over for him.
Probably without a dime to his name.
We passed the hat for the poor guy after he got
all his ribs busted up cause he could not pay his
medical bill. Still inexcusable.

It's even sadder. This all stems from an incident at SUNLAND PARK, after a fifth-place finish

Alot of the reason that they are so harsh on guys getting busted with a gaff is that the feds want to get involved and call it raqutering(sp) , and so on . They used to have a rule in New Mexico that if a jock got busted with a machine and it was proven that the trainer knew he went down the road also , I dont know if that rule still applies.

I'm sorry to hear this, was wondering what happened to him. I played golf with him once in Hot Springs when he was riding at Oaklawn. He had a good meet a few years ago riding for Assmusen. He won a million $ race at Louisiana Downs (Mr. Jester?). Sad to see it come to this for him, as he was once a pretty good rider. He used to be a top jock at Lone Star riding for Danny Pish. If it was a case of him needing money that sucks, but cheating is not the way to go. Some trainers do seem to get away with alot more. Five years is a long time. I'm not making excuses for him, but some of these guys come from nowhere and risk there lives every day. It's a crazy way to make a living.

I heard this rumor two years ago. I was part of a group that claimed a horse at Lone Star from a high profile trainer (NEVER do that again). We had the horse checked out thoroughly and didn't seem to be going thru any drug withdrawal.....but the horse could never run back to her Lone Star form.....when "Trainer A" and Chapa worked their magic. I think it would be naive to believe the trainer didn't know what was going on.....in fact it could've been at his/her insistence.

Wondering why you throw this trainer ,in general out there? Looks like you are talking about 3 or 4 posibilities. Why make them all look guilty? All these insiders get to me by grouping a bunch of bystanders in with the guilty. If it was Assmusen , Calhoun or Norman, Say so and dont beat around the bush.If you claimed a horse that didnt repeat its form, you were either not very good at assesing the abilities of the horse or they used some means of tricking you. Either admit to being tricked or dumb.

i said this several months ago here, its obscene that the ruling took so long! he was caught red handed or should we say red mouthed becuz he was caught hiding the buzzer in his mouth and spit it out

Man you are kinda harsh...The dude admitted they made a mistake...why call him out?

people are very timid in chicago to claim of catalano and calabrese nowadays after years of not much success off the claim on them. is the trainer locke or pish you claimed the horse off? there could be many reasons why the horse didnt perform the way it did previously to you claiming it, you need to be a little more specific bout the horse. also good trainers know when its time to drop and or lose one especially if its gotta hole in it


howbout when the trainers you mentioned minus norman claim off each other. where you claimed that horse from calhoun and autrey claim off each other alot and do very well

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-in-new-mexico

Thoughts?

I wish they had mandatory drug testing accompanying reinstatements like this. Otherwise good luck to him turning his life around and making it through probation.

He got banned for having a buzzer, not cocaine.

Did you read the article prior to commenting?

She misunderstood buzzer and thought buzzed...typical for an Obama voter.

Wow. You guys don't think things through much, do you?

The guy was so desperate for a paycheck he used a buzzer. Yeah, he should be checked for drugs. Doubt he was that desperate for food and housing.

Please pee in a cup Riot....I knew it. Chamomille tea. The Hurt Locker for you.

Yeah, no possibility the guy was looking for money to support his drug habit. That's absurd :D

As absurd as Weiner's Twatter account being hacked....yeah no one who tries to game the system is drug-free.

The guy was given a 5-year suspension. Nothing wrong with making sure he's absolutely clean coming back to the backside.

You guys defending against that makes perfect sense :D

I want Nerdy Trail posters drug tested for lead.

Should Pat Valenzuela have been given a Rorshach test by the State of Louisiana because of how dumb he had been over the years? The punishment fit the crime and the entity that banned him will be watching over him for years to come.

Those caught with buzzers should have to go thru a metal detector.

Your overall judgement just keeps gaining in strength.

Yes, I think that guys who have been ruled off for five years need to have drug testing added to their probation if they try and come back to the track.

The only thing bizarre and weird about that is you guys falling over yourselves saying no way :D

Amazing that some of us think the punishment fit the crime. How do you feel about Florida drug testing welfare applicants?

A track has every right to ensure those on their backstretch are drug free. Especially those that have been ruled off for five years.

You really didn't answer the question.

Yeah, I did. Tracks have a great degree of privacy. They can make virtually any conditions they'd like when allowing someone who has been ruled off back onto their property.

So are you saying that the government would be wrong to test people recieving some sort of financial aid?
I would think that they would be able to make up whatever conditions they wanted as well.

yeah, low level jock's have no problem paying bills.

How "drug free" do you think the collective American backstretch is to single out this one dude for testing? You don't actually think they have some sort of freshly laundered white linen image to uphold, do you?

I just looked up "obfuscation" in the dictionary, and strangely enough, found a picture of Riot right next to the definition.

This dude is getting "singled out" by me because he's just been off five years and wants back. Anybody off that long, for any reason - Biancone, etc - can go through the same thing in my opinion.