Jose Delgado suspended 30 days, Saffie Joseph Jr. fined for medication violations

Two horses that raced in stakes races at Monmouth Park in New Jersey this summer have been disqualified after testing positive for regulated medications, according to rulings posted on the Association of Racing Commissioners International.

The Critical Way, trained by Jose Delgado, was disqualified from first in the $76,500 Get Serious Stakes at Monmouth on June 19 after testing positive for levamisole, a deworming agent that can metabolize to aminorex, which is a stimulant. Delgado was issued a 15-day suspension. The Critical Way was the 9-10 favorite in the race.

Levamisole has been a problematic drug in racing over the past several years, and racing regulators have repeatedly told trainers not to administer the medication and to use alternate deworming agents instead. (Ivermectin, a popular deworming agent, has been in short supply this year due to an unfounded belief that the drug can be used to treat COVID-19.)

Delgado was the subject of another Monmouth stewards’ ruling after one of his horses, Glory Roll, tested positive for an overage of the regulated painkiller phenylbutazone following a fifth-place finish in a race on June 13, six days prior to the levamisole positive. Glory Roll was disqualified, and Delgado was suspended for 15 days, running from Sept. 26 to Oct. 10.

In total, the suspension for Delgado, who has not started a horse since Sept. 19, runs from Sept. 26 to Oct. 25. Delgado has started 208 horses this year with 46 winners, for a strike rate of 22 percent.

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The other horse that was disqualified from a Monmouth stakes race, Wind of Change, finished first in the $108,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes on May 29. Wind of Change tested positive for aminocaproic acid, a Class 4 substance that horsemen have used in the past as an anti-bleeding mitigant. The trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr., was fined $1,000 but not suspended.

Prior to the Mr. Prospector, Wind of Change was administered furosemide, the anti-bleeding diuretic known as Lasix, according to the chart. Wind of Change was the 2-1 second-choice in the race.

Joseph has started 671 horses this year and won with 145 of them, for a 22-percent win rate. Joseph is 12th this year on a list of trainers with the most starts.