Levine suspended 21 days for second positive drug test

ELMONT, N.Y. - Three New York-based trainers face suspensions after substances banned for use on race day were found in post race samples of their horses.

Bruce Levine will serve a 21-day suspension beginning Oct. 19 for the finding of the drug Vardenafil, also known as Levitra, in the post-race sample of Santa Elf, who finished second in the ninth race at Belmont Park on May 2. Levine was originally suspended 30 days but had nine days stayed pending no further violation of New York State Gaming Commission rules for 180 days, beginning Nov. 9. Levine was also fined $5,000.

Levine had a second horse - Zippity Goomba- test positive for the same drug after winning a race at Parx on March 16. The penalty from the Parx violation runs concurrent with the one issued by New York. Levine was fined $3,000 by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission.

Levine said the drug was contained in a paste he purchased over the counter that he used on horses in their training. He believes the medication stayed in the system of those two horses longer than others, for some reason.

The connections of both Santa Elf and Zippity Goomba had to forfeit money earned by those horses in their respective races.

Wesley Ward will serve a 30-day suspension, beginning Nov. 3- two days after the Breeders’ Cup - after the medication clenbuterol was found in the post-race samples of Sunset Time, who finished third in the second race at Belmont in June 2012. Ward was also fined $5,000 by the New York Gaming Commission.

Sunset Time was ordered unplaced in the order of finish and her owner, David Mowat, had to forefeit $7,000 the filly earned that day.

Brad Cox is serving a seven-day suspension for the finding of the drug Flunixin, also known as Banamine, in the post-race sample of Who’s Mary’s Daddy, who was eased in the fifth race at Saratoga on July 27. Cox was initially suspended 15 days but had eight of those days stayed for waiving his right of appeal. His suspension began Monday and runs through Sunday. He was also fined $1,000.

Who’s Mary’s Daddy did not earn any purse money because she failed to finish the race.