NEW YORK – Jason Servis, the trainer of 2019 3-year-old champion Maximum Security, was sentenced on Wednesday to four years in prison on charges of misbranding and adulterating medications, providing a final chapter to a wide-ranging federal investigation into drug abuse at racetracks on the Eastern seaboard of the U.S. The sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in New York was the maximum that Servis, 66, could have received. He pleaded guilty in December to two crimes, a felony and a misdemeanor, for violating misbranding laws pertaining to his administration of the bronchial dilator clenbuterol, including a form that prosecutors contended was manufactured to be more powerful than its legally distributed version, and to his use of a compounded product called SGF-1000 that had dubious credentials. Servis, who was based in the Northeast but has resided in Jupiter, Fla., since being arrested in 2020, was sentenced to three years for the felony related to clenbuterol and one year for the misdemeanor related to SGF-1000. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ordered the sentences to be served consecutively. Servis, wearing a suit and tie, stood at the defense table as the sentence was imposed. He offered no reaction as his attorney Rita Glavin stood next to him with her hand on his shoulder. Vyskocil rejected Glavin’s argument that Servis’ conduct was not as bad as other trainers who were snared in the federal investigation. Glavin had contended that those trainers admitted to using more potent illegal drugs that were more dangerous to horses. :: Bet the races with a $250 First Deposit Match + $10 Free Bet and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. But Vyskocil said that even four years might not be long enough given Servis’ prominence in the horse racing industry. Four years was the most she could impose, however. “In my judgement more than a 48-month sentence might be more appropriate,” the judge said. The government unsealed indictments in the investigation in March 2020. Charges were brought against 32 individuals, including 13 trainers and seven veterinarians. Servis is the 21st person sentenced to prison, and the last of the significant indictees to be sentenced. Vyskocil said Servis sent bills to owners disguising the use of SGF-1000 as “acupuncture and chiropractic.” Prosecutors say SGF-1000 was an injectable drug compounded and manufactured in unregistered facilities that listed “growth factors” on its labels. Prosecutors contended the product could make horses run faster. “You chose to do that,” the judge told Servis. “Nobody tricked you into doing that.” Vyskocil said that when New York State troopers interviewed Servis, he lied when he said he gave SGF-1000 to only four or five horses. She said he had eventually admitted that virtually all the horses in his stable had been given the substance, including Maximum Security, who was the first-place finisher in the 2019 Kentucky Derby but was disqualified for interference during the running of the race. The judge said Servis administered clenbuterol to horses without a prescription and in violation of racing rules. She also said Servis obtained the more potent clenbuterol from “notorious juicer” Jorge Navarro, a New Jersey trainer who was a co-defendant with Servis in the case. Navarro was sentenced to five years in prison in 2021. Vyskocil quoted from a wiretap in which Servis told his assistant trainer that he had to keep Maximum Security on the clenbuterol he got from Navarro. “Then you lied to Maximum Security’s owner,” the judge said, quoting from an email exchange Servis had with the owner Gary West before the running of the $20 million Saudi Cup in Saudi Arabia in February, 2020, just 10 days before the trainer’s arrest. Maximum Security won that race. Shortly after Servis' arrest, Saudi Cup officials announced that the winning purse of the Saudi Cup was being withheld pending an investigation. “Just an FYI Max has never been on anything out of the ordinary,” Servis told West in the email exchange, which occurred prior to the running of the Saudi Cup. She also quoted West as begging Servis not to give Maximum Security anything that would risk a disqualification in the Saudi Cup. The email chain was made public last week as an exhibit to a government sentencing submission. The chain begins with West telling Servis to “consult whoever you need to consult to be 100% certain we don’t have any kind of accidental drug violation. If you have to feed Max just hay and organic carrots for a month before the race, do that too!!!” West then said, “I would feel horrible to win a life-changing race like this for everyone only to find out we didn’t do something right because we didn’t know. I will gladly pay for any reasonable consulting work we need to have done to be sure we are ‘squeaky clean’ for the race.” :: DRF's 2023 Saratoga headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more. After Servis responded that the horse was never on anything illegal, West said in response, “That is great but ‘over there’ they might consider a ‘sugar cube’ illegal. I am not smart enough to know.” After noting the exchange, Vyskocil said to Servis: “Instead you gave the horse illegal performance-enhancing drugs.” (Saudi Arabian authorities have never released the results of their investigation into Maximum Security’s win in the Saudi Cup, but the authorities there have also never said that the horse tested positive for an illegal medication. Post race and out-of-competition samples from participants in the race were tested at the laboratory run by the Hong Kong Jockey Club, considered one of the most sophisticated racing laboratories in the world. Clenbuterol has become far more tightly regulated in racing over the past 10 years after the drug was revealed to have muscle-building properties when administered regularly to horses, even in relatively small doses.) Sarah Mortazavi, the lead prosecutor in the case, urged the judge to sentence Servis to more than three years in prison but less than the maximum of four years. Glavin appealed for a sentence of less than three years. Invited on Wednesday to address the court, Servis broke down in tears but then declined an offer to take a break. When he composed himself, he said to Vyskocil, "No words can express how remorseful and sorry I am for the decisions I've made and the hurt I caused my wife, my two sons, and others in my family.” Vyskocil ordered Servis to forfeit $311,760 and to pay restitution in the amount of $163,932. She also ordered him to pay a $30,000 fine. Servis remains free on bail until he reports to prison Nov. 1. He brought his wife, Natalie, and two sons to court with him. Also present were the girlfriends of the two sons and a longtime neighbor. Servis also submitted 37 letters of support to the court, including one from Dennis Drazin. Drazin, the chief executive officer of Darby Development, the operator of Monmouth Park, wrote that it was “noteworthy to consider that there was widespread use of SGF-1000 amongst trainers and vets in this country before [the New York Racing Association] put a warning on its overnight in September 2019.” Mortazavi told the judge Servis was not acting in good faith when he used SGF-1000 on his horses. “He continued to use it up to the time of his arrest, knowing regulators had prohibited it,” she said. Mortazavi also said that Servis “spent a considerable amount of time throwing veterinarians under the bus” in the defense sentencing memo. Servis had maintained that the vets who worked for him had advised him that SGF-1000 was legal. Mortazavi said the defense argument that none of Servis’ horses tested positive for clenbuterol just “shows how hard it is to catch someone who is cheating.” Glavin, Servis’ attorney, told Vyskocil the clenbuterol from Navarro was inexcusable and her client knows that. “The remorse he feels cannot be expressed for what it has cost him,” she said. But she also said that Servis did not perform other actions that were alleged of some of the other trainers and veterinarians who were indicted and sentenced. “We submit there is a qualified difference compared to what other trainers were involved in and what they did, which was beyond the pale,” Glavin said. Glavin also blamed Navarro for Servis' trouble. "The greatest regret in his life is that Navarro ended up in the barn next to his," she said. Servis and Navarro had barns next to each other for years at Monmouth Park.  After imposing her sentence, Vyskocil again addressed Servis. :: DRF's 2023 Del Mar headquarters: Previews, past performances, picks, recaps, news, and more. "I do accept your several expressions of remorse," the judge said. "Relatively speaking, you are not an old man. You will have a life after you get out of prison." To which Servis replied, “Thank you.” Glavin said afterward, "We are disappointed in the sentence, particulary because both probation and the goverment recommended a lesser sentence that what was imposed. Our view remains that Mr. Servis' criminal conduct was less egregious than other trainers who received lesser sentences. She added, "Mr. Servis is deeply remorseful and he remains eternally grateful to the many owners, colleagues, and friends who, along with his family, provided him with unwavering support throughout this ordeal." According to Equibase, Servis won 1,306 races from 5,281 starts over a career that began in 2001. His stable earned a then-best $4.9 million in 2017 before growing in subsequent years and exploding to $11 million in 2019. Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, issued a statement following the sentencing praising the investigative work of the various federal agencies that were involved. “Today’s sentence sends a clear signal to those in the racehorse industry that no one is above the law," Williams said. “Endangering the welfare of animals for profit will not be tolerated. Illegally doping racehorses is a serious crime that will be met with a serious sentence.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.