Richard Vega summarily suspended by Pennsylvania regulators

Richard Vega, a longtime trainer on the Pennsylvania racing circuit, has been summarily suspended by the state’s racing commission after a search of his barn at Parx Racing outside Philadelphia yielded “multiple loaded needles and syringes,” according to a ruling from the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission.

Vega’s request for a stay of the summary suspension was denied three days after the initial ruling, according to a separate notice, which said that the Parx board of stewards “affirmed” the suspension “after considering all testimony and evidence presented” on May 27.

Vega’s attorney, Alan Pincus, said that he had filed a request for a stay of the suspension on Thursday morning in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania.

“He’s going to lose his livelihood if he doesn’t get that stay,” Pincus said.

Summary suspensions are issued when stewards or racing commissions believe that a licensee’s continued participation in racing represents a threat to the integrity of the game. After issuing a summary suspension, stewards typically conduct a hearing to determine a specific penalty.

The suspension was issued six days after investigators with the Pennsylvania racing commission conducted searches at multiple barns at Parx. The commission’s executive director said days later that the searches had turned up “a significant amount of contraband,” but commission personnel have not returned phone calls requesting additional information on the searches.

Pincus said that the racing commission has not yet scheduled a hearing on the suspension, and that it was his understanding that a hearing would not be scheduled until tests on the syringes are completed, a process that could take weeks. Pincus said he did not know what was inside the syringes.

Pincus also said that stewards presented only one syringe at the May 27 hearing requesting a stay of the suspension, and that Vega was not allowed to be present at his barn when the search was conducted on May 21.

It is illegal for trainers to possess hypodermic needles or injectable substances on the backstretch. The ruling did not identify the substances that were contained in the needles in Vega’s barn.

Vega has started 6,398 horses in his career, with 1,115 wins and $19.5 million in purse money. This year, he has started 46 horses and has six wins.