Trainer fined for horse mix-up

GROVE CITY, Ohio - Trainer Joe Martin has been fined $500 by Beulah Park stewards for running the wrong horse there Nov. 3.

Martin saddled a horse entered as Comic Grey to finish second in the eighth race that day, but the horse was actually Seventh Wish. The stewards said they believed Martin had made an honest mistake.

Track identifier Rob Fairholm also has been fined $250 and suspended five days for failing to catch the mistake. The purse for the race will likely be redistributed, with Seventh Wish being disqualified from all money.

Seventh Wish apparently also ran as Comic Grey two previous times, once at Canterbury Park on Aug. 25 last year and then again Sept. 9 at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia.

Martin purchased both horses from previous owner Dr. K. K. Jayaraman and incorrectly identified the horses from the beginning. The horses' tattoo numbers are the same except for the last digit, and that last digit of Seventh Wish's tattoo is blurred.