Kentucky commission again revises drug ruling

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has reached a settlement to nullify the disqualification of a filly from second place in a stakes race at Keeneland last year after the filly tested positive for an illegal amount of the muscle relaxant methocarbamol.

The settlement is the second the commission approved this week as a result of an examination of state rules following a hearing into the disqualification of a horse from last year’s Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs. The filly who won that race, Sign, also tested positive for an illegal amount of methocarbamol.

Under the settlement, trainer Brian Lynch will be fined $500 but serve no suspension for the medication violation, which turned up in a post-race sample from English Class, who finished second in the Oct. 19 Valley View Stakes. The order of finish in the race will not be changed.

The commission reached the two settlements after commission personnel concluded that they had wrongly interpreted rules on Class C medications that went into effect last September. The commission had previously held that the medication violations required disqualification from races and redistributions of the purses.

“Through the course of recent appeals, it became evident that, in the process of amending the regulation, certain technical revisions resulted in a misapplication of the regulation,” said John Ward, the executive director of the commission, in a statement.