Three Trainers Receive Lengthy Suspensions

Three trainers—Luis Diaz, Erin Thompson, and Dominic Duree—received lengthy suspensions in separate Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit cases adjudicated in recent weeks. Arbitrators upheld penalties against Duree and Thompson following contested proceedings, and HIWU issued a default judgment against Diaz after he failed to respond. The lengthiest suspension was imposed on Diaz, who received a combined 18-year suspension and $225,000 in fines related to possession of a banned substance and tampering or attempted tampering after he falsely denied ownership of a vehicle linked to keys found in his barn. His sanctions resulted from a Jan. 21 compliance search at Turf Paradise in Arizona where HIWU investigators reported finding seven injectable substances, including products containing banned substances, in Diaz's barn area and vehicle. According to HIWU, laboratory testing confirmed the presence of the banned substances diisopropylamine and trenbolone in one of the products seized. Diaz did not respond to either an enforcement notice or subsequent charge letter despite repeated attempts by HIWU to contact him, resulting in a default judgment. Thompson was assessed the maximum two-year suspension and a $25,000 fine after an arbitration panel found a violation involving the banned substance clenbuterol following a June 5, 2025, postrace sample from Motion to Adjourn after her horse finished fifth in a claiming race at Belterra Park in Ohio. The horse also received a 60-day suspension, and its results from June 5 and June 27, 2025, were disqualified, with forfeiture of purse earnings and associated awards. Arbitrator Hugh Fraser reviewed the evidence and arguments presented by both sides in the contested case, including Thompson's argument that she was a good-faith participant who would not have committed such a serious rule violation in a race for a minimal purse. Though Fraser sided with HIWU, he declined to shift adjudication costs requested by HIWU toward Thompson. Similarly, arbitrator Jeffrey Benz declined to award HIWU its legal costs against Duree, who Benz found deserving of a two-year suspension and $25,000 fine in a prohibited association case arising from trainer Carlos Sedillo's period of ineligibility. Investigators testified they found Sedillo, who had previously accepted an 18-month suspension for possession of levothyroxine, inside Duree's Sunland Park barn holding current training records and admitting he helped care for horses. Duree argued he believed Sedillo was permitted on the backstretch because the New Mexico Racing Commission had not ruled him off and maintained the men were simply watching an NFL game together. Benz determined this was "not a fleeting or one-off encounter," noting that Sedillo was effectively living in Duree's tack room. "This was as close to intentional as this Arbitrator can see," he wrote.