La Verdad disqualified from Honorable Miss victory

La Verdad, among the leading filly and mare sprinters in the country, was disqualified from her victory in the Grade 2 Honorable Miss at Saratoga, and her trainer, Linda Rice, will serve a 15-day suspension as a result of the horse testing positive for clenbuterol, New York racing regulators announced on Saturday.

La Verdad, who won the Honorable Miss by four lengths on July 29, was ordered unplaced in the order of finish, and owner Sheila Rosenblum has to forfeit the $120,000 first-place purse. Street Story, trained by Steve Asmussen for Whispering Oaks Farm, was officially declared the winner of the $196,000 Honorable Miss.

Rice was suspended for 30 days but had 15 days stayed for waiving her right of appeal, according to New York State Gaming Commission steward Steve Lewandowski. Rice will not have to serve those days provided none of her horses tests positive before Jan. 25. Rice also was fined $1,000.

Rice will begin serving her suspension Nov. 30 and is eligible to return Dec. 15.

In a span of eight days from Nov. 7-15, Rice was fined a total of $750 by regulators for circumstances that necessitated the scratch of two of her horses.

Rice maintained to Daily Racing Form in July that she did not treat La Verdad with clenbuterol, a bronchodilator that has effectively been banned by New York regulators after they ruled, starting in December 2012, that the drug could not be administered within 14 days of a race. Prior to December 2012, clenbuterol could be administered as close as 96 hours prior to race day. Rice even offered up to a $10,000 reward to anyone with information on how La Verdad received clenbuterol.

Rice said Saturday she didn't have clenbuterol in her barn at Saratoga and doesn't have it in her Belmont Park barn now.

"We have no idea how this occurred," Rice said. "Under the trainer's responsibility rule, it doesn't matter who's at fault, how it occurred, or if it was foul play. I'll take responsibility and move on."

The disqualification of La Verdad could hurt her chances to win an Eclipse Award as champion filly or mare sprinter. In a division without a clear-cut leader, La Verdad in 2015 finished first in six of seven starts and ran second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint behind Wavell Avenue, whom La Verdad defeated in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom at Belmont on Sept. 26.

La Verdad’s other graded stakes wins in 2015 included the Grade 2 Distaff at Aqueduct and the Grade 3 Vagrancy at Belmont. She also won a pair of New York-bred stakes. La Verdad is being pointed to Thursday’s Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap at Aqueduct against males.

La Verdad, who is expected to be bred in 2016, now has a record of 15-3-0 from 23 career starts and earnings of $1,500,700.