Serey starts serving 165-day ban while he awaits appeal hearing

Mario Serey Jr., the Pennsylvania-based horsemen whose career has been set back multiple times over the past two years by medication violations, has begun serving a 165-day suspension handed down by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission after his most recent violation triggered additional penalties under the state’s multiple-medication violation points system.

Serey, who had 23 wins from 213 starters this year prior to being suspended on Aug. 6, has appealed the penalty in civil court and is seeking a stay in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, according to his attorney, Alan Pincus. A hearing on the stay has not yet been scheduled, Pincus said on Wednesday morning, and in the meantime Serey has sent his horses to other trainers.

Serey was originally suspended in May for 15 days after one of the horses he trains, Unlimited Resource, tested positive for an overage of the regulated bronchial dilator clenbuterol following a race on Feb. 24 at Parx racetrack, according to Pennsylvania racing commission records. The violation also resulted in two points being assigned to Serey’s license, for a total of 12, which triggered an additional 150-day suspension, a penalty Serey appealed.

The racing commission upheld the 165-day penalty in the ruling dated Aug. 6.

Under a set of rules adopted last year in Pennsylvania and in other jurisdictions recently, trainers are assigned points for rules infractions based on the severity of the violations. Serey served a 120-day suspension last year for a string of clenbuterol positives in 2016 that Pincus has contended were the result of sabotage by a former employee, with those violations being added to his license.

If Serey were able to obtain a stay from the commonwealth judge, it is likely he would seek to return to training while he appeals the penalty through the civil court system. However, racing commissions in the past have sought to block stays under the contention that a suspended trainer’s continuing participation in racing can represent a threat to the integrity of racing.

Serey, who comes from a racing family, began training in 2008. Earlier this year, The Jockey Club, citing the clenbuterol positives in 2016 and the penalty he served in 2017, denied Serey “stud book privileges” for two years, which prohibits Serey from registering a foal with the organization along with other administrative and registration processes.