Trainer Farro suspended four years after positive tests for cobalt salts

Patricia Farro, a Pennsylvania-based trainer who at the high point of her career was earning millions of dollars per year in purses, has been suspended four years by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after two of her horses tested positive for cobalt salts, according to documents HIWU posted on its website.

Farro is the third trainer to get hit with a lengthy suspension for cobalt salts in the past year. Cobalt is a banned substance under HIWU’s rules. It is administered under the belief that it can spur red blood cell production, or erythropoiesis, which prevents fatigue.

According to HIWU, Deplane, a horse trained by Farro, tested positive after winning a claiming race at Parx Racing outside of Philadelphia on Feb. 6. Three weeks later, Knockout Win tested positive after winning a maiden-claiming race at the same track. Both horses were disqualified, and each have received a six-month period of ineligibility to race, starting with the date on which the samples were pulled.

Farro had her best year in 2015, when her horses won 167 races and earned $5.2 million in purses. She was second in wins that year at Parx. Her career, which includes dozens of positives for regulated medications, began tailing off five years ago. Last year, she won 29 races from 243 starts, with earnings of $1.01 million.

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