Mid-Atlantic trainer Anthony Farrior, who through Dec. 7 ranks fourth in North American wins with 211, is accused of a violation of the banned substance rule by the enforcement arm of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
In a Dec. 8 public disclosure to its website, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit alleged a finding of the banned substance metformin by Farrior-trained Geothermal in a Nov. 5 race at Laurel Park. According to the race chart, Geothermal failed to finish that Nov. 5 race when he "sustained an injury through the backstretch run, was pulled up entering the far turn, and was vanned off."
His provisional suspension is noted as pending and postponed on the HIWU website. A metformin case resolved with an admission last month saw trainer Angel Castillo Sanchez suspended for 18 months.
Metformin has been in the spotlight in recent months. In October, following an internal review, HIWU announced that not all of its participating laboratories had applied the same limit of detection in analyzing samples for the presence of metformin. HIWU said it met with all six laboratories to establish updated, uniform limits of detection for the drug.
Detection limits are used to try to screen out cases of environmental contamination. While metformin is a banned substance in racing, it is used for the treatment of humans with type 2 diabetes, which may increase the chances of contamination.
When it announced the outcome of the internal review in October, HIWU also said it would lift the provisional suspensions of two trainers where the test positives for metformin were at levels in the blood that would not have been reported as adverse analytical findings under the updated limit of detection.
As for the current case, Geothermal has been provisionally suspended from racing. Owned by Richard Burnsworth, Geothermal entered the Nov. 5 race at Laurel off a 4 1/2-length victory in a maiden claiming race Oct. 5 at Hollywood Gaming at Charles Town Races.
Through Dec. 7, Farrior is the leading trainer by wins (134) at this year's meet at Charles Town, and Farrior's horses have posted a record of 211-171-112 from 892 starts and have earned more than $4.5 million. Farrior, a graded stakes-placed trainer, ranked 34th in earnings and 10th in victories in North America in 2022.
He also owns horses, either outright or in partnership.
