Robertson denies drug charge

A leading trainer at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., has been suspended by the track stewards for 90 days after a horse he trained tested positive for methamphetamine, but the track itself issued a statement contending that officials there did not believe the positive was a result of a deliberate drugging of the horse.

McLean Robertson, who is leading the trainer standings at Canterbury by earnings this year, was issued the suspension after Purest Form tested positive for the drug after winning a June 7 claiming race at the track. The level of the drug found in the post-race sample was measured in the tens of picograms, but methamphetamine, a stimulant, is a Class A prohibited medication, meaning any finding of the drug is treated as a violation.

Robertson is the second prominent trainer in the past several months to be suspended for a methamphetamine positive. In April, Kentucky stewards suspended Kellyn Gorder for 14 months for a trace-level positive and for the illegal possession of hypodermic needles. Gorder, whose owners have rallied to his defense, has received a stay of the suspension while he appeals.

Robertson has denied administering the horse methamphetamine, a powerful drug that is widely abused by humans. He told stewards that he tested his entire staff for the drug after the positive was discovered, and fired two employees as a result. The track itself said in a statement that it believed the positive was a result of “environmental contamination.”

“Canterbury Park supports and funds drug testing as a deterrent to the use of performance-enhancing substances in horse racing,” the statement read. “However, Canterbury Park management does not believe Mr. Robertson, an upstanding and respected member of Canterbury Park’s racing program for many years, administered a performance-enhancing or prohibited substance to the horse referenced in this case but is a victim of environmental contamination.”

Robertson has not been fined for a medication violation in five years, but he racked up multiple violations from 2008 to 2010 for the regulated medications naproxen, an anti-inflammatory, and methylprednisolone, a corticosteroid. In all of the cases, according to records in an online database of medication rulings, the violations were for overages of the drugs, which are regulated as therapeutic substances.

Methamphetamine would likely have to be administered in a large dose very close to a race in order to achieve its stimulant effect, according to medication experts. The recommended suspension for a Class A drug is one year, but stewards are allowed to take “mitigating circumstances” into account when levying a penalty.