Jockey Club suspends trainer from stud-book business for a year

The Jockey Club has issued a ruling that will prevent a Southwestern trainer from naming or registering foals or conducting any other business with the sport’s stud book for one year because the trainer altered a horse’s foal papers, the organization announced on Friday.

Paul Aguirre will be suspended for 12 months beginning Jan. 1, 2013, under a Jockey Club rule that allows the organization to deny privileges to individuals who have engaged in “deceptive practices,” the Jockey Club said.

Aguirre admitted earlier this year to altering the registration papers for a horse, Doc Can Dance, so it appeared the horse was eligible to run in a starter allowance race at Hollywood Park in June. Doc Can Dance had earlier won an optional claiming race for maidens at Turf Paradise under a claiming tag, but Aguirre altered the registration papers prior to entering for the Hollywood starter allowance to indicate that the horse had not been entered for a claiming price.

Aquirre was suspended for five days and fined $2,000 by Hollywood Park stewards for the alteration after the falsification was discovered. Doc Can Dance won the starter allowance, paying $57, but he was disqualified and the purse was redistributed.

The Jockey Club has denied privileges to several individuals over the past three years, but in those cases, the privileges were denied to individuals who had been convicted of animal-cruelty charges.