Diodoro fined $5,000 and given stayed 60-day suspension for lidocaine positives

Robertino Diodoro, the Midwest-based trainer, has received a stayed 60-day suspension from the stewards at Canterbury Park in Minnesota after a hearing to determine the source of two lidocaine positives in two of his horses that raced at the track within six days of each other, according to a ruling from the stewards.

The 60-day suspension was stayed on Nov. 30 after stewards cited “mitigating circumstances” for the two positives, which resulted in the disqualifications of the two horses and a $5,000 fine. The suspension will remain unenforced unless Diodoro has a positive for a Class 1 or 2 drug in the 365 days following the ruling.

Lidocaine is an anesthetic that is a Class 2 drug, which can result in a minimum 15-day suspension for each positive test. It is a common ingredient in pain medications available to humans.

The positives were detected in post-race samples for Hey Kitten, who finished second in the third race at Canterbury on Sept. 26, and for Catty Krys, who was sixth in the fifth race on Sept. 1.

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Diodoro said on Tuesday that stewards used “common sense” in deciding to stay the suspension. During the hearing to discuss the positives, Diodoro’s veterinarians testified that they do not administer lidocaine and “don’t even carry it on their trucks,” according to Diodoro, who also said he did not administer the drug to the horses or ask a veterinarian to administer it.

Diodoro also said that the stewards sent two pain medications that were being used by one of his Canterbury grooms to a lab for testing and found that the medications contained lidocaine, despite the drug not being listed on the label.

“I don’t know if that was the source of it or what it was,” Diodoro said. “And certainly mistakes happen, but my vets and their companies don’t even carry it around.”

Diodoro said he did not plan to appeal the fine and the disqualifications.

“In my view this is done with,” he said.

Steve May, the executive director of the Minnesota Racing Commission, said on Tuesday he could not discuss the case until the time limit to appeal the ruling runs out in five days.

Lidocaine has been in the headlines this year in U.S. Thoroughbred racing because two horses trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert tested positive for the drug after running in races in May at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. Baffert has appealed the 15-day suspension handed down by Oaklawn stewards, arguing that the positive tests could have been triggered by contamination from a pain patch containing lidocaine used by one of his employees who handled the horses that day.