Loss of Navarro, Servis horses to hurt entries for a while

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Horses at Gulfstream Park trained by Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis, who were arrested Monday on federal indictments alleging they participated in a scheme to administer illegal medications to their horses, are in the process of being sent to other stables or to farms, Mike Lakow, Gulfstream Park’s vice president of racing, said Wednesday.

“Both trainers have been excluded from the grounds, and most of their owners have already moved their horses,” Lakow said. “There will also be protocols set, a stand-down period while all the horses involved undergo a series of tests, before any of these horses or horses claimed from either Navarro and Servis will be permitted to race again at Gulfstream Park.”

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Those protocols are expected to have a severe impact on entries during the final weeks of the Gulfstream Park championship meeting, which ends the day after the Florida Derby, on March 29. Without horses from Navarro or Servis, entries could be down 10 percent on some days during the stand-down period, Lakow said. All horses trained by Navarro and Servis were scratched from Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday’s programs, entries for which were drawn prior to the indictments being released early Monday morning. Navarro had 10 horses entered during that period, Servis just two.

John Guarnare, who runs under the nom de course of Imaginary Stable, owned all or part of 28 horses trained by Navarro last year but was down to only six at the time the indictments were released Monday. All six were sent to his primary trainer, Elizabeth Dobles, on Wednesday,

“They allowed Elizabeth to go into Jorge’s barn and look at the horses, walk the horses, and feed the horses on Tuesday, but we had to leave them there overnight,” said Guarnare, who will send War Story, formerly trained by Navarro, to Dubai later this month to compete in the Dubai World Cup. “We finally made the transition to Elizabeth’s barn today, and those horses are now safely under her care. Now we are waiting to see how long the hibernation period will be before we can run those horses again. The sooner the better, obviously, from a business standpoint, although I fully understand why they have to wait until being tested.”