Hearing officer's report in case of filly Sign delayed

LEXINGTON, Ky. – A hearing officer’s report examining whether the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission should have required the owners of a filly to forfeit the purse of a stakes race after the filly tested positive for a prohibited medication will not be released on or before Wednesday, as previously planned, according to officials in the case.

Robert Layton, the hearing officer in the case, has told attorneys for both sides that he will not issue a report until after a status conference with the attorneys July 10, according to David Royse, the attorney representing Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, the owners of the filly who tested positive. Layton had said earlier that he would issue the report by Wednesday.

The owners contested the order to forfeit the purse of the Oct. 28, $168,150 Pocahontas Stakes after the filly, named Sign, tested positive for a prohibited amount of methocarbamol, a muscle relaxant. The filly’s trainer, Al Stall Jr., testified during a hearing May 20-21 that the filly never was administered the drug, while Royse argued that the racing commission had never intended to require purse forfeiture for minor drug positives when it put in place new medication rules Sept. 4.

The racing commission is scheduled to meet July 9. An agenda has not yet been released, but the Sign case is expected to be discussed at the meeting.