A veterinarian and 13 trainers, seeking an edge at a Pennsylvania racetrack, injected pain medications into the joints of more than 100 horses in violation of federal rules, the federal agency that now regulates the sport said on Friday.
Afterward, 30 percent of the horses never raced again and 10 percent were declared lame post-race by a regulatory veterinarian. Three horses were euthanized as a direct result of injuries sustained in races, while four more died later, said the agency, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, or HISA.
The veterinarian, Dr. Allen Post Bonnell, and three of the trainers, Kim Graci, Marlin Miller and Michael Zalalas, are based at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pa. It is a midlevel track adjacent to a casino.
Bonnell and the three trainers were suspended in November and admitted injecting their horses inside the 14-day period when injections are not allowed. The other names were redacted in an investigative report by Pennsylvania’s State Horse Racing Commission. State investigators did not find any illegal drugs — mostly corticosteroids and hyaluronic acid that ease pain and lubricate the joints.
“Many admitted they were injecting two, three, four days before a race,” said Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive of the horseracing authority. “It’s detrimental because it masks pain and makes it difficult for regulatory vets to assess if a horse is race ready.”
The authority will pursue penalties against the trainers, including the disqualification of more than 100 horses from previous race results and subsequent forfeiture of purses, as well as suspensions and fines.
The state report contends that more than 200 injections were given to horses at Penn National from May 2023 to last November. The horses competed in races at 10 tracks across six states, including New York, according to the report. Three horses competed in higher-class stakes races at Penn National.
“The actions of any individuals who attempt to circumvent rules intended to ensure the safety and welfare of the equine athlete will not be tolerated and will be dealt with quickly,” said Christopher McErlean, the vice president of racing for PENN Entertainment, the parent company of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.
Lazarus said, “The health and safety of horses and jockeys are paramount, and those who deliberately put them at risk will be held accountable.”
The horseracing authority, which Congress established in 2020, enforces uniform safety and medication rules in thoroughbred racing in the United States. But it has faced an uphill battle against a group of horsemen who have sued and claimed that the sport does not need federal regulation.
In the spring of 2023, beneath Churchill Downs’s twin spires, seven horses died during the week of the Kentucky Derby — two of them in races in the hours leading up to the Derby. Two weeks later, a colt trained by the sport’s most recognized and controversial trainer, Bob Baffert, died at Pimlico Race Course hours before Baffert saddled the winner of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, at the Baltimore racetrack. Baffert did not compete in the last three Derbys because Churchill Downs barred him after his colt Medina Spirit won the race in 2021 but subsequently tested positive for a prohibited substance.
Baffert will return to the Derby this year.
Two more horses, neither trained by Baffert, died in races surrounding the Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, in June 2023.
That summer, at the historic Saratoga Race Course in New York, 13 horses died while racing and training at the sport’s signature summer meet, including two that seemed poised to win their races before breaking down near the finish line.
The authority has expanded its drug testing, beefed up its investigative arm and employed technology to monitor veterinarian records since taking over drug investigations and enforcement in May 2023. On Thursday, it announced that for the first time since data had been recorded in the United States, racing fatalities subject to its rules fell below one per 1,000 starts for a calendar year.
In 2024, 99.91 percent of starts did not result in a fatality. Forty-seven racetracks in 19 states recorded an aggregate racing-related fatality rate of 0.90 per 1,000 starts, a 27 percent decrease from the 1.23 rate reported by the authority in 2023 and a 55 percent decrease from 2.00 in 2009, when the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database began reporting fatalities.
“It has never been clearer that thoroughbred racing has become safer,” Lazarus said in a statement. “While we celebrate this progress, HISA remains committed to collaborating with industry stakeholders to further reduce fatalities and to enhance safety for horses, jockeys and all those who love and participate in the sport.”