Trainer Dominguez serving 60-day suspension

Trainer Henry Dominguez is serving a 60-day suspension for a TCO2, or total carbon dioxide, overage, he said Friday. Dominguez began his suspension Nov. 22, and it runs through Jan. 20. A call to both the New Mexico Racing Commission and the Zia Park stewards was not returned by press time Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and an afternoon when there was no racing at Zia.

Dominguez said a horse from a 2013 Sunland Park race had the TCO2 overage, and he appealed the ruling.

“I ran 400 horses last year, and all of a sudden only one comes up with [an overage] with it,” Dominguez said. “The limit is 37 [millimoles]. Mine was 37.2. You can’t send a split. You can’t send to another lab and have them test because it dissipates.”

Dominguez said as part of his program he feeds baking soda, a bicarbonate, in a practice followed by many horsemen. Some believe it helps with the treatment of ulcers.
“My vet said it’s like eating tums,” said Dominguez.

Dominguez is a perennial leading trainer in New Mexico.

◗ Zia Park handled a meet-high $1,275,283 on Wednesday’s second annual Land of Enchantment program of seven stakes worth $1.1 million. It was the second-highest handle in track history behind the corresponding program a year ago, according to Zia spokesman and announcer Jonathan Horowitz.