Two winning horses at Charles Town Sept. 17 have been disqualified for Class 1 drug positives, but no action taken against their trainers due to mitigating circumstances, according to rulings issued by the West Virginia Racing Commission.
Morality Clause, owned by Cutair Racing and Randall Manor Racing and trained by Jack Hurley, and Take Me Home, trained by Timothy Kreiser and owned by Bush Racing Stable, both tested positive for fentanyl and eutylone after winning the second and fourth races Sept. 17, respectively. Fentanyl and eutylone are illicit drugs known as bath salts and fall in the Class 1 American Association of Racing Commissioners International category for infractions and typically carry stiff Category A penalties.
Thoroughbred Daily News first reported the Charles Town medication violations.
The disqualification rulings stated "the standard penalty for a first offense Class A medication violation of year suspension/$10,000.00 fine" was not imposed. The ruling cited the trainers' past records and the drugs' presence at "a trace level, which lends credibility to the probability that the horse was inadvertently exposed to the drug in some manner."
The two horses, both heavy betting favorites, shared contact with an employee of Hurley, according to the ruling.
"Mr. Kreiser and Mr. Hurley were not acquaintances but were brought together by a mutual owner," the ruling stated. "A licensee that worked for Jack Hurley, who had contact with Take Me Home for hours leading up to the race refused a drug test for fentanyl. He has since been suspended. There is no reason to believe that Mr. Kreiser knew of or caused the drug to be administered to the horse."
Purses for the two races were redistributed but neither trainer received the six multiple medication violation points that would typically have been imposed, the ruling said.
