Forte Hopeful med overage reporting

[Kasept]

Forte's therapeutic med overage after the Hopeful was like a message in a bottle floating around the ocean. Eventually it would reach a shore and be called publicly by the NY Gaming Commission after the legal wranglings ended.

Holding the speculative reporting (using anonymous Gaming Commission sources) until after Derby reveals 2 things, one worthwhile and one thoroughly pathetic and insidious.

First is the legitimate angst and annoyance over procedural elements of regulation, something which HISA/HIWU has potential to smooth out and expedite.

Second is that the reporting outlet held the 8 month old topic hoping Forte would perform well or win Derby thereby offering the big gotcha moment to taint his performance and create an absolute conflagration for the industry.

[Dahoss]

Isn’t the real issue here that it didn’t come out for this long?

Why is everything so secretive in racing?

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

Isn’t the real issue here that it didn’t come out for this long?

Why is everything so secretive in racing?

Because participants have due process. But yes.. the procedural aspect is the legitimate complaint here and worthy of discussion. But you well know attention to that topic wasn't the intent of the published report.

[Kasept]

Here's @DRFHegarty's piece...



Forte reportedly had positive test after Hopeful victory; stewards hearing today
Matt Hegarty | May 10, 2023

Forte, the morning-line Kentucky Derby favorite who was scratched the morning of the race, had a positive drug test after winning the Sept. 5 Hopeful Stakes last year that has yet to be adjudicated, the New York Times reported on Tuesday night.

The report quoted two anonymous sources and said that Forte tested positive for a substance “used to relieve pain and reduce inflammation.” Drugs in wide use in racing that have those effects include regulated painkillers like flunixin and phenylbutazone as well as regulated corticosteroids, such as dexamethasone and betamethasone.

Forte is owned by Mike Repole and trained by Todd Pletcher, one of the most prominent trainers in the U.S.

The report said that a stewards’ hearing to discuss the positive is scheduled for today, eight months after the Hopeful. Brad Maione, a spokesman for the New York Gaming Commission, confirmed that element of the report in response to an inquiry by Daily Racing Form on Wednesday morning. Maione declined to provide details about the violation.

“The trainer’s counsel has sought repeated postponement of the stewards’ hearing, which impeded the stewards from making a determination,” Maione said.

The connections of Forte did not immediately respond to phone calls on Wednesday morning. Pletcher’s attorney, Karen Murphy, also did not respond to a phone call.

The report is sure to generate additional controversy in a sport that has drawn widespread media coverage due to five horse deaths at Churchill Downs in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby last Saturday and two additional deaths on the Derby undercard. The New York Times report called the positive an instance of “doping,” a highly charged term that is generally defined as a deliberate attempt to improve athletic performance with the administration of illegal drugs.

In addition, the delays in adjudicating the case are sure to lead to criticism of the sport. Despite the positive test eight months ago, Forte made four starts afterwards, winning them all, including his Derby prep, the Florida Derby.

Heightening the interest, Forte was scratched on the morning of the Derby by the state regulatory veterinarian due to lameness in his right front foot. He was then placed on the vet’s list, which will prevent the horse from starting in the second leg of the Triple Crown, the May 20 Preakness Stakes.

In 2020, the U.S. Congress passed legislation creating the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, which was given a broad mandate to enforce safety rules at U.S. tracks and create a national drug-testing program. HISA initially planned to launch both programs by July 1, 2022, but logistical difficulties and litigation filed by prominent horsemen’s groups and other opponents of HISA have delayed the start of the drug-testing program until May 22.

Under HISA’s rules, the adjudication process for positive test results for both regulated medications and prohibited drugs is designed to be completed within a month of a positive test result, even when including appeals of any initial decisions. In addition, the rules call for a horse to be disqualified in the event of any positive test, regardless of fault.

Under HISA’s “anti-doping” program, trainers are handed a “provisional suspension” that prevents them from entering horses while the case is being adjudicated. Under racing’s current system, suspensions are not issued until a ruling from the stewards, and those suspensions can often be stayed pending an appeal of the ruling. Some of those appeals, especially when filed by trainers with deep pockets, can drag on for months and even years.

[Dahoss]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Because participants have due process. But yes.. the procedural aspect is the legitimate complaint here and worthy of discussion. But you well know attention to that topic wasn't the intent of the published report.

I’m well aware participants have due process. I also know what Drape was doing. A bute overage is nothing.

Which is why it coming out like it did is so ridiculous. There’s no way anyone can justify it coming out 8 months later. Impossible. It should have been public knowledge when the test happened, with the caveat that they are waiting for the split sample. Instead nothing is reported and it comes out in a hit piece by the horse racing assassin Drape on the backdrop of a pretty bad week for the sport in the public eye.

The sport gets so much negative press because they operate reactively instead of proactively. So many of our problems are self inflicted.

[Dahoss]

And of course the connections don’t want to talk now. Repole can’t wait to shove his family and daughter down everyone’s throat for years and wouldn’t shut up the entire Derby week. Telling us about how bad Forte felt he couldn’t run.

Bad report comes out and no one wants to say a word.

[Dahoss]

So they finally DQ’d Forte today. Probably just a coincidence that the NYT article comes out Tuesday night and all this happens days later

Meanwhile according to the connections lawyer, it took 4 months for the New York Gaming Commission to provide them with a list of labs they could send the split sample to. Apparently the split sample was sent to a lab t Texas A & M in December and it also came back positive. IN DECEMBER!!!

The whole thing is so stupid.

[freddymo]

Originally Posted by Dahoss

And of course the connections don’t want to talk now. Repole can’t wait to shove his family and daughter down everyone’s throat for years and wouldn’t shut up the entire Derby week. Telling us about how bad Forte felt he couldn’t run.

Bad report comes out and no one wants to say a word.

StopshovingGioia? Great name for a filly

[Kasept]

Should add the that the use of the word 'doping' in association with a legal therapeutic medication was a flagrant attempt to mislead and inflame.