Trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley, the small-time trainer who hit it big when Mine That Bird won the 2009 Kentucky Derby, has been suspended for 180 days by stewards at Turf Paradise racetrack for possession of a needle and syringe, according to a ruling provided by the state’s Department of Racing.
The 180-day suspension is the highest penalty that stewards can assign, and the ruling requests that the Department of Racing take additional action “due to the severity of this violation which calls into question the honesty and integrity of horse racing in Arizona.”