Chuck Borell released on bond in alleged animal-cruelty case

Chuck Borell, who along with his daughter, Maria Borell, has been charged with animal cruelty in the case of 43 abandoned Thoroughbreds on a farm in Mercer County in central Kentucky, was released from the Boyle County Detention Center on Friday.

According to a report in The Blood-Horse, Borell posted a $4,300 nonrefundable bond. He is due in court Wednesday for his arraignment. Borell, who leased the farm where the 43 abandoned horses had been kept and was the principal caregiver of the horses, was arrested by county sheriffs last Wednesday.

There is an outstanding warrant for the arrest of Maria Borell, who trained Runhappy to win last year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but the state does not know her whereabouts. She reportedly owns some of the horses who had been abandoned and had been entrusted with the care of other horses at the farm by their owners.

The charges of animal cruelty were brought by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and are Class A misdemeanors. The maximum penalty is up to one year incarceration.