Baltas faces stewards hearing over alleged administration of unpermitted substances

Prominent California trainer Richard Baltas has been ordered to appear at a hearing with Los Alamitos stewards on July 1 regarding allegations that he administered unpermitted substances to 23 horses on race days at Santa Anita between April 15 and May 8.

The California Horse Racing Board published a complaint Tuesday, stating video surveillance of Baltas’s stable showed substances being administered by the trainer’s employees.

Tests taken at the University of California-Davis, the state’s official testing laboratory, revealed the presence of higenamine and paenol, according to the racing board’s complaint.

According to the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s website, higenamine is a stimulant that has been banned for use in athletes since 2017 by the World Anti-Doping Agency. Paenol is an anti-inflammatory, according to veterinarian websites.

In its complaint, the board cited Baltas for 23 violations of administering unpermitted medications to a horse within 48 hours of a race, violating the trainer’s responsibility rule for horses entered to race, and conduct detrimental to horse racing.

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Pending the results of the hearing, Baltas could face a fine and/or suspension for the alleged violations.

On May 8, a Baltas-trained horse was withdrawn at Santa Anita after officials became aware the gelding had been administered a substance within the preceding 24 hours, a source said at the time.

Baltas was immediately banned from entering or working horses at Santa Anita and other tracks owned by 1/ST Racing, notably Golden Gate Fields in Northern California.

In the days that followed, several prominent horses trained by Baltas were transferred to other Santa Anita-based trainers, while a majority went under the care of trainer George Papaprodromou, an arrangement that continues.

California trainers are under severe restrictions regarding medications and supplements that can be given to a horse within 48 and 24 hours prior to a race.

Baltas, 61, won 24 races at Santa Anita from the start of the track’s winter-spring meeting on Dec. 26 through May 7. At the time, he ranked fifth in the trainer’s standings. This year, Baltas has won five stakes – four at Santa Anita and one at Sunland Park in New Mexico.