On top of the financial troubles at Yavapai Downs this year, the Arizona Department of Racing accused a leading trainer at the track of doping several winning racehorses over the summer.
The Board of Stewards at Yavapai Downs in Prescott Valley summarily suspended trainer Bill Bainum Aug. 16 allegedly for racing seven winning horses that had lidocaine, a banned painkiller, in their systems.
Bainum, 62, captured nearly $100,000 in earnings at the Downs this past season, and he remains under suspicion from the Department of Racing.
But Bainum denies the accusations and claims that someone working at the track set him up by tainting those horses' feed.
Although none of the horses in question suffered injuries, Yavapai Downs General Manager Gary Spiker said in late September that lidocaine "puts the horse and the jockey into danger" because it allows a horse to run through pain and raises its heart rate.
Luis Marquez, the Department of Racing's director, said that in fiscal year 2009 alone, the Department of Racing's annual report on racetracks in this state found 33 positive findings for drugs in racehorses, including lidocaine. But he could not confirm the number of people responsible for the doping or whether Yavapai Downs has had past difficulties with its trainers.
Bainum could face thousands of dollars in fines and a lengthy suspension from the tracks in this state. However, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge on Sept. 28 granted Bainum a stay of his suspension until Jan. 4, pending a recommendation from an administrative law judge who heard the case Dec. 8 in Phoenix.
Marquez said Dec. 17 that the judge likely will not announce a recommendation until the end of December or early January.
Bainum will receive a penalty only if Marquez agrees that one is necessary and issues an order based on the judge's findings.
"The case will remain open until I issue an order," said Marquez, adding that it typically takes 20 to 30 days after an administrative hearing for an administrative law judge to make a decision.
After Marquez issues his order, Bainum could request a re-hearing or appeal the order to the state's racing commission.
Essentially, Department of Racing officials claim Bainum allowed seven different horses under his care to race with lidocaine, a Class 2 drug, in their systems from July 13 to Aug. 4 at Yavapai Downs.
In mid-August, the Yavapai Downs' Board of Stewards summarily suspended Bainum, pending an Aug. 22 hearing. Board members denied Bainum privileges of all grounds under the Department of Racing's jurisdiction. They also banned him from entering horses he owned or trained, including those pending sale or transfer.
In its report, the board said it suspended Bainum for failing in his duty as a trainer to guard and protect his horses from foreign substances.
All of the purses in those seven races at the Downs, which ranged from $4,000 to $6,000, are withheld until the administrative law judge issues the recommendation.
Turf Paradise at 1501 W. Bell Road in Phoenix has allowed Bainum to continue as a trainer at its track this fall. Nonetheless, on Sept. 14, that track's Board of Stewards ordered Bainum to pay $7,350 in fines or face a 60-day suspension of all his licenses from Oct. 15 to Dec. 13.
In late September, Bainum said he hired an attorney and is fighting the charges, which he says are false. He added that he's spent $50,000 in an effort to clear his name.
"We've gone through a nightmare with this whole deal," he said.
Industrial Laboratories, the official state laboratory of the Department of Racing, found positive results for the presence of lidocaine and/or its metabolites in those seven racehorses.
Tests indicated that lab technicians detected lidocaine in the following horses: Montenegrin on July 13; Tizahighbrite on July 18; Sempai on July 21; Patriate and Sports Tour on Aug. 2; and Warren's Honey and T.J.'s Dixie on Aug. 4.
Each of those horses won the races in which they competed.
Bainum said the results of independent tests he had conducted for those horses at two state universities in Iowa and Louisiana came back positive for lidocaine, but in minute amounts of 2 or 3 nanograms. He said that had he injected his horses with lidocaine, the results would have revealed 100s of nanograms.
Bainum added that only racetracks in Arizona and California have a zero tolerance policy for lidocaine and that all other states allow as much as 25 nanograms on any test.
"I've won 500 races and never had a bad test," he said in September. "I was totally set up on this thing."
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, December 28, 2009
Article comment by:
KB
Give a person an inch, some take a mile....Lidocaine is a Wonderful Medication USED in a horses situation for HEALING in a closed in space (stall) to subside a horses anxiety from a PAINFUL surgery or injury perhaps, under CLOSE watch in a Clinic or in the skilled hands of a HORSEMAN at a Farm, where the HORSE is re-habing and RESTING...NOT AT THE TIME OF RACING AND WITH ALL others involved .HORSES are a lot like HUMANS , except HORSES have 4 legs , our SYSTEMS are a bit alike, only HORSES are twice as sensative.When HORSES run cold, that shows HEART. It takes a HORSEMAN to be disciplined for the HORSE.
Posted: Friday, December 25, 2009
Article comment by:
What else is new in Corrupt Town
Now another reason not to waste my time at that pig sty. Sure looked like a lot of jocks pulled up their mounts if they were too close to the finish line or went to the outside if the to close to winning. Disgusted
Posted: Friday, December 25, 2009
Article comment by:
BOUT TIME
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