Miyadi gets fine, suspension for medication violation

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Steve Miyadi has been fined $5,000 and suspended 30 days after Run for Retts tested positive for the prohibited substances methamphetamine and amphetamine following the $100,500 Soviet Problem Stakes at Los Alamitos last December.

The penalties were part of an agreement between Miyadi and the California Horse Racing Board reached earlier this month and announced Thursday. Miyadi, 59, was suspended 180 days, but 150 days of the suspension were stayed provided he does not violate the terms of the agreement. One aspect of the agreement states that Miyadi cannot have any positives for medications in classes 1, 2, or 3 for a one-year period beginning Aug. 7.

The 30-day suspension runs from Aug. 7 to Sept. 5, covering the last four weeks of the Del Mar summer meeting.

Run for Retts earned $12,000 from the race on Dec. 5, which was ordered forfeited in a ruling issued in April by Santa Anita stewards Grant Baker, Scott Chaney, and Kim Sawyer. The racing board and Miyadi’s attorney worked out terms of the agreement.

Text of the agreement states that the contamination was likely caused by human contact. On Dec. 19, Miyadi and 13 of his employees had urine samples tested by racing board investigators. Two employees tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamine.

Miyadi said on Friday that those two no longer work for him and that he plans to implement drug testing for his employees in the future.

◗ Jockey Brandon Boulanger will miss two weeks of racing in late July and early August after losing an appeal of a 10-day suspension issued at Los Alamitos in April.

Boulanger, 22, will be suspended from Thursday through Aug. 10. He was originally suspended in April for careless riding. Boulanger was riding a trailing horse in a race, and a horse broke down well in front of him. Boulanger’s mount collided with the fallen horse.

Boulanger has won 53 races in his career, including 11 this year.