Sweep of Parx backstretch yields ‘significant contraband'

Investigators with the Pennsylvania Racing Commission uncovered a “significant amount of contraband” during recent searches of barns at Parx racetrack outside Philadelphia, according to Tom Chuckas, the director of Thoroughbred racing at the commission.

Chuckas, who did not return a phone call on Wednesday, said during a live-streamed meeting of the commission on Tuesday that personnel from the commission conducted searches of six barns at Parx, plus grooms’ quarters and five “external tack rooms” at the track, according to a video of the meeting. The personnel also took 66 out-of-competition testing samples, Chuckas said.

“I can say without getting into too much detail that a significant amount of contraband was discovered,” Chuckas said. “Dealing with medications, unlabeled, compounded, or expired. I regret to say there were contraband items that have no business on the backside, with needles and some other things that we discovered.”

According to the racing commission’s website, out-of-competition samples are subjected to tests designed to detect “gene- and blood-doping agents and other substances that compromise the integrity of racing and the welfare of the horse.” Those drugs can result in severe penalties for trainers.

Pennsylvania racetracks have been under the eyes of racing and non-racing investigators for years, going back to an FBI investigation that began at Penn National Racecourse in the early 2010s that resulted in the indictments of a number of trainers and veterinarians under charges of misusing and misbranding medications.

Chuckas said during the meeting that “it is fair to say that the other [Pennsylvania] tracks will receive the same enforcement action,” after referring to COVID-19 protocols hampering barn searches over the past year.

Officials for the track’s horsemen’s organization, the Parx Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, did not respond to messages on Wednesday.

It is illegal for trainers to possess hypodermic syringes on backstretches, though some trainers take the risk in order to avoid vet bills to administer commonly used medications. It is also illegal for trainers to possess regulated medications that need to be prescribed and administered by veterinarians.

The searches took place after 27 individuals were indicted last year on charges of manufacturing, distributing, and administering illegal medications to Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses, including the top trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis. Trials in the case are expected to get underway later this year.