Amoss accepts 45-day suspension

Tom Amoss, one of the leading trainers in the U.S., has accepted a 45-day suspension from the Indiana Horse Racing Commission to settle a medication positive that turned up in one of his horses after a race in 2011.

The suspension will begin Sept. 17 and run through Oct. 31, the final day of the two-day Breeders’ Cup event, held this year at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Amoss had fought the commission ever since it handed down a 60-day penalty shortly after announcing that the horse tested positive for methocarbamol, a regulated muscle relaxant. Amoss had argued that the penalty was too harsh considering the circumstances surrounding the positive, which was Amoss’s third for the drug in the past month. Methocarbamol is a Class 4 medication, a therapeutic drug that is prohibited to appear in certain concentrations in a horse’s post-race samples.

In an interview Thursday after the settlement was announced, Amoss continued to maintain that the punishment exceeded the crime but said he was relieved to finally settle the case. Amoss has employed four different attorneys in his attempt to override the initial penalty.

“I’ve spent a lot of money fighting this, and I don’t have any more money to fight,” Amoss said. “The commission has spoken, and I’ll take my punishment.”

Amoss said he still has not determined what he will do with his horses during the suspension. He also said he had asked the commission to serve the suspension immediately, but the commission insisted on the dates including the Breeders’ Cup.

The racing commission had cited the three positives in handing down the 60-day suspension, under a policy in which trainers are punished more severely based on multiple infractions in a certain time frame. Amoss had argued that he had not been notified of the Kentucky positives prior to the horse testing positive in Indiana and had asked the commission for leniency. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission treated the two positives as one positive.

Led by Joe Gorajec, the Indiana Horse Racing Commission has sought aggressive penalties against trainers and veterinarians accused of rules violations. Earlier this month, it reached a settlement with a Standardbred trainer for a 10-year ban based on a positive for the prohibited blood-doping drug darbepoetin. It is also seeking a 10-year ban of a veterinarian accused of multiple rules violations, including administering medications to horses on race day.

“Mr. Amoss’s penalty sends the right message to Indiana’s racing community,” Gorajec said in a statement. “Whether you’re the leading trainer or train a couple of $5,000 claimers, you will be held accountable and disciplined appropriately.”

Through Wednesday, Amoss had 72 wins from 296 starts this year. His horses have earned $2.5 million, good for 25th in the national trainers’ standings based on earnings.