Presque Isle Downs suspends Saffie Joseph Jr. for Masters positive
The Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission has issued a 15-day suspension to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. after a horse he trains tested positive for a painkiller following a victory in the $400,000 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes last September, according to a ruling on the commission’s website.
The ruling said that Artie’s Princess, the winner of the Masters Stakes on Sept. 19 at Presque Isle Downs, tested positive for gabapentin, a drug that is used to treat nerve pain in humans and has also been used off-label as a painkiller in horses. The presence of the drug was confirmed in a split sample, the ruling said.
The suspension is scheduled to start on June 5 and end on June 19, but Joseph said late on Friday afternoon that he would appeal the ruling.
Joseph said that when he was notified of the positive, he had to look up the drug on the internet.
“I’d never even heard of this drug,” said Joseph. “I have never given it to one of my horses or ever had a veterinarian administer it to my horses in my whole life. It’s frustrating.”
Joseph said that Artie’s Princess was subjected to out-of-competition testing prior to the Masters Stakes and that the test came up clean. He said he suspected that the mare tested positive through accidental contamination, due to the drug’s ubiquity in human medicine.
Gabapentin is a Class 3 drug, meaning it has some ability to affect performance “and may or may not have an accepted therapeutic use in the horse,” and it is placed in the Class B penalty category. The ruling said that the “liability for this positive is under investigation.”
Artie’s Princess was disqualified from the race. A six-year-old mare, Artie’s Princess is owned by Kenneth Ramsey and the Estate of Sarah Ramsey. In her most recent race, on Jan. 28, she finished sixth of eight in the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes at 16-1.
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