Pletcher granted temporary stay of 14-day suspension

Todd Pletcher, the Hall of Fame trainer, has secured a temporary stay of a 14-day suspension recently issued by the New York State Gaming Commission for an overage of the regulated medication phenylbutazone, according to his attorney.

Drew Mollica, the attorney, said that the stay was granted on Thursday in the Supreme Court of Schenectady County after a hearing that day. Pletcher had earlier filed an Article 78 petition seeking a review of the gambling commission’s decision to issue the penalty, which was based on a post-race positive for a horse, Capensis, that ran in the summer of 2022 at Saratoga Race Course.

On March 25, the gambling commission voted to uphold a hearing officer’s recommendation for the 14-day suspension and asked the state’s stewards to issue dates for the suspension. Pletcher filed his appeal shortly thereafter.

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Mollica said that the judge in the case scheduled a hearing for May 31 in which Mollica will argue for a preliminary injunction that will allow the stay to remain in force while the case is litigated.

“We believe that when the full facts are litigated, he will be exonerated,” Mollica said.

Pletcher is also facing a 10-day suspension for a positive for meloxicam in a horse he trained, Forte, also from the summer of 2022. A New York judge in that case recently ruled that the case deserved a closer legal examination.

While the penalty for an overage of phenylbutazone typically draws a three- to seven-day suspension, the hearing officer in the Capensis case cited the meloxicam positive as an exaggerating factor.

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