By Tom Winter and David K. Li
More than two dozen trainers, veterinarians and others in horse racing were charged in a widespread doping scheme that "amounted to nothing less than abuse," federal officials and court papers revealed Monday.
The defendants ran horses at tracks in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky and the United Arab Emirates, federal prosecutors in New York City said.
"Over the course of the scheme, participants manufactured, purchased, sold, shipped, delivered, received and administered thousands of units" of performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs, for use on racehorses, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman wrote in charging documents against 19 of 27 defendants.
The indicted included 11 trainers, seven veterinarians and nine drug suppliers and distributors, according to Berman.
"All involved in the cruel and systematic doping of racehorses across the United States and indeed around the world using misbranded, adulated and dangerous performance-enhancing drugs," Berman told reporters in New York.
"This is the most far-reaching prosecution of racehorse doping in the history of the Department of Justice."
William F. Sweeney Jr., the FBI's assistant director in charge of the New York office, said this practice forced horses to run faster than they really could, putting them in grave danger.
"These substances stimulated endurance, deadened nerves, increased oxygen intake and reduced inflammation," Sweeney told reporters. "What actually happened to these horses amounted to nothing less than abuse."
He added: "They experienced cardiac issues, overexertion leading to leg fractures, increased risk of injury and in some cases death."
As of now, investigators said they have not found any evidence that defendants told anyone about their doping scheme so to make bets on juiced horses. But they allegedly profited on hefty prize money.
"Conversely, the human beings in the scheme continued to line their purses as they manipulated this multiple-billion-dollar horse racing industry across the globe," Sweeney said. "People are rightfully disturbed by the mistreatment of animals who have absolutely no means of defense."
Prosecutors said trainer Jorge Navarro "orchestrated" this scheme by "using PEDs designed to evade drug tests, physically concealing containers of PEDs and drug paraphernalia from state regulators and racing officials."
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