Del Mar: Gaines suspension to begin Thursday

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Carla Gaines is set to begin a 30-day suspension on Thursday, the result of having two of her female horses test positive for an excessive amount of testosterone in July 2012.

Gaines on Tuesday ran out of legal maneuvers to stop or delay the suspension. Her request for a temporary restraining order in Los Angeles County Superior Court was denied by Judge Luis Lavin. She was represented by trainer Darrell Vienna, who is also an attorney.

Del Mar’s stewards last week suspended Gaines for 30 days and also fined her $2,500 due to the excessive testosterone tests. California Horse Racing board chairman David Israel subsequently turned down a request for a stay, leading to the bid in Superior Court.

“I’m at a loss to understand these decisions,” Vienna said Tuesday, referring to the suspension and subsequent denials of stays.

Gaines has a horse, Irish Art, entered in the featured seventh race on Thursday at Del Mar. Usually in circumstances like that, where a trainer is suspended after a race has been drawn for their horse, transfers to other trainers for that horse in that race are denied.

But stewards do have the option to grant the transfer, and on Wednesday, Del Mar’s stewards – Scott Chaney, Kim Sawyer, and Tom Ward – allowed Irish Art to move to new trainer Jerry Quinn and will allow Irish Art to race for Quinn on Thursday.

Gaines had no horses entered for Friday’s races, which were drawn on Sunday.

Among Gaines’s top horses is the 3-year-old Gervinho, who won a division of the Oceanside Stakes on opening day at Del Mar and has been pointing to the La Jolla Handicap on Aug. 10 and the Del Mar Derby on Sept. 1. He is owned by former racing board chairman Keith Brackpool, now the chief executive of Santa Anita.