Another NY trainer caught....
 

Getting kinda old with these Ny trainers being caught....this one is rather sad as the one caught really has been having zero success over the last few years...even the drugs couldnt get him to the winner's circle.



Sciacca barn starts ban
By DAVID GRENING
Paul Barone, an assistant to trainer Gary Sciacca, began serving a 120-day suspension on Sunday for his role in an alleged attempt to have a horse consume a banned substance four years ago at Belmont Park. Sciacca, meanwhile, faces the same penalty, but has been given an unspecified amount of time to disperse his 16-horse stable to other trainers, stewards said Sunday.

The penalties stem from an incident at Belmont on June 28, 2003, when a New York Racing Association investigator allegedly witnessed veterinarian Dr. John McGuire, Barone, and Sciacca employee Oscar DeLeon giving the horse Storm River Kelly a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and electrolytes - known as a milkshake - on the morning of the day he was scheduled to race.

Sciacca was not present at the time - he was en route to the Grand Cayman Islands on vacation - but is penalized under the trainer's responsibility rule.

At the time, Barone, McGuire, and DeLeon were arrested by Nassau County police and charged with tampering with a sports contest. Those charges were later dropped.

NYRA stewards initially recommended that Sciacca be suspended 45 days while the other three men get 60 days. The New York State Racing and Wagering Board increased the penalties to Barone and Sciacca to 120 days, while McGuire was given a 180-day penalty and a $1,000 fine.

In February 2006, DeLeon served a 45-day suspension. Since the incident, McGuire has suffered a stroke that has left him incapacitated

I just posted the same thing....never would have thought it with this barn.....if you aint cheating you aint trying

Sciacca's milkshake brings all the boys to the barn
and damn right, it's better than yours.

Do those milkshakes come in different flavors, because that would be very humane if they did?

Christ..the guy milkshaked and STILL cant win. I think Sciacca needs to find another profession.

Why was there an almost 4 1/2 year delay from the infraction to the suspension?

so is te DT horse part of the 16 horse dispersal to other trainers?

Shake it, sh-sh-shake it! Shake it like a polaroid picture!

I believe KYRIM will take over the training duties.

Actually she's serving a 60 day suspension. Her assistant MercedeZ will take over the training duties.

Both of you are incorrect. The training will be taken over by Grits. Get it right. :rolleyes:

That part of the stable hasn't been filled yet. All DT horses are with Chuck.

Will you still use Sciacca in NY now?

this pie topping has got to stop ...ice creaming is rampent in racing circles..as is no forking .. a common trait in the early days of racing ..using just hands to eat pie.......:eek:

Gary fought this for the 4+ years given that the investigator changed testimony at least three times about what he saw or thought he saw and what stall Barone, the vet and groom were in at the time. Gary was on vacation.

Yes.. It's not as if this some revelation that just occured. It's been hanging around endlessly without resolution until now.

Doesn't this parallel what the NCAA looks at, I mean the people in charge have to take care of "their" house? I am getting tired of betting against horses only to read they were on drugs and then here the excuse of "someone in my barn was doing it without my knowledge". That is a failed excuse that has many parallels in history. Frankly it seems like its acceptable in what is becoming a very pathetic industry which refuses to acknowledge it has a major problem.

I have to agree 10 pt move up. But in this case, 4 years and Sciacca was on vaca at the time ? The rules have to be understandable, the punishment needs to be swift. This case was not handled in a timely manner and punishing Sciacca when he was on vaca, it doesn't seem right to me.

fireing squads and date the widow...

It was 4 years ago and never confirmed.....I think we should give it a rest.

As ELA very eloquently pointed out in a similar thread, there is a decernable difference between administring drugs specifically to enhance a horse's performance, and the more routine incidental overages of legal medications.

Neither should be tolerated - the difference here is that the latter can be chalked up to human error; but to purposely shove a tube through horse's nostril in order to pump Bromo Seltzer into it's stomach is indefensable. No way around it. Don Rice made a living out of it in Tampa (leading trainer in 7 of 9 years from 94'-95 thru 02'03) until everyone had enough of his sh!t and was run out of town on a rail

http://www.sptimes.com/2006/02/07/Sp...ns_suspe.shtml

I don't know if Sicacca had anything, personally, to do with this - given his record, I'd say abusing drugs to win is not his problem. But if the horse in question is under his care, he is responsible.

And certainly begs the question about the completely remarkable turnaround of horses like Tobruk - a 13 time beaten maiden who couldn't get out of his own way until 9/1 at the SPA, when he went off at 12-1 m/l to break, and has 2 back to back place efforts against winners since.

I'm sure I'm not the first to notice

Exactly.

This is bush league on Grening's part...

"Since the incident, McGuire has suffered a stroke that has left him incapacitated."

Why is this info relevant? He's basically implying that the investigation is the cause of the stroke. If it isn't...why share this info? And aren't there HIPPA laws to protect McGuire's medical info? I'm assuming he disclosed this info to Grening. Terrible.

Be nice now Gator!:)

That was nice. :)

Maybe he was implying divine retribution.

Don't jump to conclusions.

Are these assistants still in the employ of Sciacca? It certainly sounds like it from the DRF story.

sounds like you are implying that they acted without his knowledge while he was on vacvation and if thats the case why didnt he fire them?
and if you are implying also that maybe there were in a stall not his he still should have fired them if they were caught admistering illegal substances..


I would also love to know why the suspensions were increased from there original lenght..

Paul Barone has been with Gary, except for a short period, for years. Gary certainly takes responsibility whether he was on vacation or not. What they were contending was the circumstances and what horse was being worked on.. The penalties were increased undoubtedly because parameters for the offense increased since the time it happened.

No assistant jumps in a stall and milkshakes a horse without the bosses orders.

So you think trainers milkshaking horses isnt a big deal? The guy's outfit CHEATED. It's bs like this that is killing the game. 120 days was light....regardless of if he knew, he should have gotten a hell of a lot more than 4 mos. It's a total cop out that these guys say "I was on vacation...I wasnt there". They are responsible for the guys who work under them. If not they could drug the hell outta horses and play the dumb/I didnt know card if they got caught all the time.

unless a horse has colic or is being oiled for shipping (both of which would be easy to produce a vet report on to clear one's name) then there is NO reason to tube a horse...and it isn't easy for a person (even a layman) to misinterpret....confusion about which stall or even which horse doesn't mean he didn't see what he says he saw...and I like I said if they were treating a sick horse or preparing a horse to ship it is easily cleared up...the fact that they can't speaks volumes.

Not that it applies in this case but not that long ago horses were tubed for worming. We still tube really dehydrated horses with electrolytes in the summer. While giving a milkshake is against the rules it does not in any way harm the horse. That is a fallacy.

Interesting fact- Dr. Mcguire worked as a examining (state/NYRA) vet for a time.

but like you said horses haven't been tubed for worming in years...

and if they were giving electrolytes they could have easily had that documented as well...

and I never said it harmed the horse....but it harms the betting public.

The argument that Sciacca and Barone have had was that the horse in question was not the horse that they were cited for working on. Gary never argued that the situation wasn't his responsibility.

how do you know that?
my boss is on vacation. you think he knows everything i do (like sitting here typing on a message board) while he's gone?

Still they were Milkshaking a horse right?

They were caught right?

And they are still wortking for Sciacca 4 years later. What does that say about Sciacca?

The barn maintained publically at the time that the horse that was to receive the tubed electrolytes was a horse that had raced the previous day. That's not an uncommon practice to replace electrolytes in a horse that needs them post-race.

'allegedly witnessed'.

hell, if someone who knew nothing about horses and their care saw riot with her arm...well, you know--they might call the cops to report abuse of a horse.