McPeek frustrated over not being allowed to enter horses until Sunday
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Ken McPeek accepted that he couldn’t race horses for 21 days at Saratoga after the barn he is stabled at was quarantined because a horse there was found on July 11 to have case of equine herpesvirus.
As the quarantine is set to be lifted on Barn 86 Sunday, McPeek is beyond frustrated that he can’t race his horses here until Friday.
McPeek said he has tried to enter eight horses beginning with the races of Sunday, but was denied by the state steward, Braulio Baeza Jr. McPeek said he cannot get an explanation from state racing officials as to why the entries were denied and has retained an attorney, Drew Mollica, to see if he has any legal recourse.
“It’s the most incompetent thing I’ve seen in my 35 years of racing from a racing official,” McPeek said.
According to Baeza, if a horse is ineligible to participate at time of entry, then it can’t be entered even if the race is run after the quarantine is lifted.
“At the time of entry, are those horses eligible to run?” Baeza said.
McPeek feels he should be permitted to enter, and if the quarantine is not lifted, then the horses should be scratched.
“They never showed us a rule, they failed to give us protocols that I felt were clear,” McPeek said.
Baeza said that the 21-day quarantine was put in place by the New York State Department of Agriculture’s veterinarian in conjunction with Dr. Scott Palmer, the equine medical director for the New York Gaming Commission.
Horses in Barn 86 were not eligible to be entered nor could they train with the general horse population. Horses in that barn were permitted to train from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The horse who was diagnosed with equine herpesvirus is trained by Jorge Abreu, who had 16 horses in that barn. Abreu entered a horse for Sunday’s card, Who Hoo Thats Me in race 5, and while the racing office accepted the entry, Baeza said the horse will be scratched.
McPeek said he was told by Baeza that the horses he wanted to race were unfit to run despite the fact McPeek presented records to him showing that the horses have been training. Among the horses McPeek wanted to enter was the Grade 1 winner Simply Ravishing in Wednesday's $150,000 Statue of Liberty Division of the New York Stallion Series.
“We took veterinarian exams over to him, we showed him these horses have been working, my vets examined them, they’re fine, they’re ready to run,” McPeek said. “Denied entry.”
McPeek has had to alter race plans for the likes of Swiss Skydiver, now pointing to next Saturday’s Grade 1 Whitney, and Crazy Beautiful and King Fury, both of whom he now plans to run on turf in the Saratoga Oaks and Saratoga Derby, respectively.
McPeek said that Martin Panza, NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations, has tried to help him get the horses entered but to no avail.
“Martin Panza’s done everything in his power to talk him off this,” McPeek said. “He’s really done everything he could. I’m pleased with what he tried to do. I don’t get it at all.”
Provided the quarantine is indeed lifted Sunday as expected, McPeek will be permitted to enter horses that day for Friday’s card, which is the 17th of the 40-day meet.
McPeek said he handled the initial quarantine situation “gracefully,” even though none of his horses have tested positive or shown any signs of illness since the quarantine began.
“Now, I’m not happy about it,” he said. “There’s lots of money invested here, lots of loss. We want to get back to work.”