Trainer Goldberg gets 15-day suspension

Trainer Alan Goldberg began serving a 15-day suspension Monday after test results showed Pool Winner, whom he trains, was over the permitted threshold level for phenylbutazone when she won the 11th race at Monmouth Park on June 13.

The purse of the race was redistributed, and Goldberg was fined $500. The suspension is a result of Pool Winner having six times as much bute in her system than is permitted.

Goldberg explained that the overage was due to a stable error.

“When the test came back so high, I wasn’t sure what had happened, but someone made a mistake and I’m responsible,” he said. “The night before a horse races, we give them an electrolyte paste. It comes in a green plastic tube, two doses per syringe. Bute paste comes in a plastic tube, which has a green label, 6 doses per syringe. There was a mix-up.”

Goldberg said he has no problem with the purse redistribution or fine but thinks the suspension is excessive.

“The Monmouth stewards were good about it,” he said. “They realize it was a mistake, but commission rules require the suspension because of how high the overage was.”

During Goldberg’s suspension, his assistant Jorge Duarte Jr. will oversee the stable. Goldberg’s suspension runs through July 27.