Top Parx trainer Preciado suspended 90 days for clenbuterol violation

Trainer Ramon Preciado has been suspended 90 days and fined $2,500 for a clenbuterol positive at Parx Racing on Oct. 24. Seventeenohsix, who finished second in the first race that day, has been disqualified from the purse money of the $5,000 claiming race.

Preciado’s suspension is scheduled to begin April 7 and run through July 5. Preciado did not return messages left for him Friday.

Clenbuterol is a bronchodilator that has steroidal qualities and can help build muscle mass in horses. Clenbuterol is considered a Class 3 medication by the Association of Racing Commissioners International, which classifies drugs into five categories, with Class 1 drugs, such as opioids, being the most powerful and Class 5 the least powerful.

The clenbuterol positive is Preciado’s fifth of 2015.

On Feb. 23 of last year, Boss Cat and Main Entrance both tested positive for clenbuterol at Parx. Preciado was fined $1,500 in each case. On Aug. 26, Trouble Kid tested positive after winning a $25,000 starter allowance at Delaware Park. Preciado was fined $500 and suspended seven days. On Sept. 12 at Delaware Park, Jake N Elwood tested positive after winning the restricted New Castle Stakes. Preciado was fined $1,000 and suspended 14 days.

All of the horses involved were disqualified from the purse money.

Preciado also had a positive for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), a topical analgesic that can help relieve pain, at Parx on Oct. 17. DMSO is a Class 4 drug under the Association of Racing Commissioners International categorizations. Preciado was fined $1,000 when Roxbury N Overton tested positive for DMSO after finishing second in a Pennsylvania-bred allowance race. Roxbury N Overton was disqualified from the purse money in that race.

Preciado had a career year in 2015, when he won 169 races from 569 starters (29 percent) and his horses earned more than $5.5 million. He has been the leading trainer at Parx the past two years.

Prior to 2015, Preciado had not had a medication violation since 2011, when one of his horses tested positive for phenylbutazone, or bute, a Class 4 medication.