AP News, December 18th, 2006
Record-setting trainer Todd Pletcher began a 45-day suspension Monday for using an anesthetic on one of his horses too close to a race more than two years ago at Saratoga.
Pletcher, who leads all trainers with a record $27.4 million in earnings this year, has had two appeals turned down but is awaiting a final ruling in federal court.
Pletcher's suspension, which runs through Jan. 31, was handed down by New York State Racing and Wagering Board after traces of mepivicaine were found in the system of Traces of Glory.
The horse finished first in the third race at Saratoga on Aug. 14, 2004, but was disqualified when the drug was discovered.
A New York state appeals court upheld the racing board's suspension and a $3,000 fine Dec. 7. Pletcher said he began the suspension now so he wouldn't risk having to miss days during the more competitive spring season.
"We are continuing litigation," Pletcher said Monday. "We don't feel like we had any wrongdoing. We have no knowledge of how the horse could have gotten it. When it's all said and done, hopefully our name will be cleared."
Pletcher, who has nearly 200 horses in his care at several tracks, said assistant Seth Benzel will oversee his New York-based string, with Anthony Sciametta Jr. handling the Florida contingent and Michael McCarthy training the Southern California-based horses.
Mepivicaine is a substance that is banned from being "administered by any means within one week of the start of a racing program," according to a decision by the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Albany, N.Y.
On Sunday, Pletcher added to his record of stakes wins this year when Bishop Court Hill won the Grade 3 Gravesend Handicap at Aqueduct, giving the trainer his 57th graded stakes victory.
