Block to serve 20-day suspension for medication violation
Trainer Chris Block has accepted a 20-day suspension from stewards in Kentucky after a horse he trains, Knockyoursocksoff, tested positive for a Class A drug used to treat insomnia after finishing second in the Grade 2 Jessamine Stakes at Keeneland Racecourse in October of last year.
In a statement, Block said that he did not administer the drug, temazepam, to the horse, and that he suspected the positive was the result of environmental or accidental contamination. Temazepam is an ingredient in sleeping medications designed for humans.
“I conducted an exhaustive inquiry into how the horse might have encountered temazepam, but found no clear answer,” Block said in the statement. “I strongly feel she came into contact with the substance in her environment.”<
As part of the penalty, Knockyoursocksoff was disqualified from the $350,000 Jessamine and the purse was redistributed. Knockyousocksoff’s share of the purse was $63,875. Block was also fined $500.
The Kentucky stewards said in a ruling that Block would be suspended 45 days, but the order stayed 25 of those days on the condition that Block does not have a Class A or Class B violation within the next year.
The suspension will begin on May 7 and conclude on May 26, the order said.
Block said in his statement that he has “high professional and ethical standards,” and he noted that he has had only two other medication violations in a career stretching back to 1989. According to a database of rulings, both of those occurred in 2005, when horses trained by Block had overages of Lasix, the regulated diuretic, and flunixin, a regulated painkiller.
For the year, Block has eight wins from 34 starts. Last year, he had 38 wins from 181 starts and purse earnings of $2.3 million.<
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