Judge stays suspensions for Parx trainers

A Pennsylvania state judge has granted stays to three trainers based at Parx racetrack near Philadelphia who had been suspended for failing to comply with subpoenas issued by the state’s racing commission early this month, according to court filings.

Commonwealth Court Judge Anne Covey issued the stays on Wednesday following hearings that morning. The rulings will lift the suspensions until the racing commission issues decisions on appeals filed by the trainers. Those hearings have been scheduled for next Wednesday, according to Alan Pincus, who represents the trainers.

In the rulings, Covey stated that stays of the suspensions “will not adversely affect the betting public,” in addition to stating that without the stays, the trainers would “suffer irreparable injury.”

The trainers affected by the rulings are Juan Carlos Guerrero, Marco Zulueta, and Silvio Martin. A fourth trainer who was suspended, Joseph Taylor, has elected to attempt to comply with the subpoena, Pincus said. The trainers have been barred from Parx and other racetracks since being issued the suspensions and have been unable to enter horses in races.

The trainers were issued indefinite suspensions by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission early in October after refusing to comply with the subpoenas, which sought a wide range of financial, racing, and training records over the past three years, according to a copy of the subpoena. Pincus has argued that the request was overly broad and constituted a “fishing expedition” by the commission in an investigation centering on hidden ownership and the use of program trainers.

Zulueta and Guerrero were ranked third and fifth in the Parx training standings at the time the suspensions were issued.