Investigation into illegal substances use nets 27 arrests in Europe

Police in France and two other European countries on Tuesday took 27 people people involved in horse racing into custody in an investigation centered on the use of illegal substances, according to multiple media reports.

According to the reports, the individuals arrested included vets, pharmacists, and trainers, including two Standardbred trainers and one Thoroughbred trainer. While 25 of the arrests occurred in France, one person was taken into custody in Spain, and another person was “interviewed” in a third country in Europe, the reports said.

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The description of the investigation parallels that of one in the U.S. that resulted in 27 people involved in Standardbred and Thoroughbred racing being arrested and indicted in 2020 on charges of administering, distributing, or manufacturing illegal substances. That investigation has so far resulted in multiple guilty pleas, including from trainer Jorge Navarro, along with one guilty verdict in a jury trial.

The prosecutor’s office for Bourdeaux, a region in France, said that the investigation focused on “national and international networks of doping products in the equestrian world.”

France-Galop, racing’s governing body in France, released a statement after the arrests were made sating that it “condemned in advance with the utmost firmness the manipulations that could be revealed” by the investigation. The statement said that France-Galop would “provide their full support in the analysis of all information or data collected.”