Blacker faces possible sanctions over lack of vet exams

Trainer Dan Blacker faces a possible fine or suspension after failing to complete pre-workout veterinary exams for runners in his stable on more than 500 occasions in an 18-month period ending on July 1, according to a complaint on the California Horse Racing Board’s website.

A hearing in the case was scheduled for Friday, but has been postponed, according to steward Kim Sawyer. Blacker did not return a message on Wednesday regarding the case.

Racing board investigators conducted an audit of Blacker’s pre-workout veterinary records after the unraced 2-year-old filly Animae suffered a fatal injury after a workout at Santa Anita on July 1.

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The racing board’s complaint stated that no pre-workout veterinary report was filed to an official database in the three days prior to Animae’s workout on July 1. Pre-workout veterinary reports were not filed for two of the filly’s other three preceding workouts.

The racing board’s audit found that of 789 works by Blacker-trained horses from Jan. 1, 2022 to July 1 of this year that pre-race veterinary reports were not filed for 527 workouts.

The absence of pre-race veterinary reports was cited in the complaint as a violation of a racing board rule that requires horses to be examined by a trainer’s attending veterinarian within 72 hours of a workout to determine whether the runner is fit for such exercise. In addition, a confidential record of the examination must be filed electronically with the racing board.

The racing board has implemented a series of rules regarding workouts and pre-race examinations in recent years following a series of fatalities at Santa Anita in early 2019 that drew international attention.

Blacker, 41, has trained since 2011. He is best known as the trainer of Hit the Road, the winner of the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile in 2021. Earlier this year, Blacker won the Santa Barbara Stakes at Santa Anita with Queen Of the Temple, and the Grade 3 Maryland Sprint Championship with Straight No Chaser.

Earlier this month, Blacker was suspended seven days and fined $1,000 by the national Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after one of the horses in his care tested positive for the tranquilizer acepromazine at Del Mar on Aug. 23.

Acepromazine is listed by HIWU as a controlled substance. Blacker’s suspension ended earlier this week.

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