Trainer Greiner's suspension reduced to four months by arbitrator
An arbitrator has reduced a two-year suspension handed down to a Washington-based trainer to four months on the grounds that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority failed to issue an adequate alert to horsemen about the possibility that a supplement contained a prohibited substance.
The arbitrator, Barbara A. Reeves, wrote in her ruling that the two-year recommended suspension for possession of a prohibited substance should be reduced to four months in part because the trainer, Gary Greiner, “made a careless but understandable mistake in not familiarizing himself” with the ingredients of a supplement found in his barn at Emerald Downs in Auburn, Wash., during a 2025 search.
Reeves also wrote that HISA and its drug-enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, had become aware that the specific supplement, called EasyWillow, contained the banned substance piper methysticum, which is found naturally in the kava plant, but did not issue an alert to horsemen.
“HIWU apparently considered the discovery important, because it alerted its investigators to ‘be on the alert for EasyWillow,’ " Reeves wrote. “Alerting racetracks, trainers, and owners at the same time would have been in furtherance of HIWU’s declared goals of industry education and outreach, and to enhance the safety and well-being of covered horses and racing participants while ensuring the integrity of the sport.”
HISA began telling trainers in the lead-up to its jurisdiction over drug-testing enforcement in mid-2022 that horsemen should be cautious when using supplements because the products are unregulated and frequently contain ingredients not listed on the labels. The EasyWillow product listed “Kava Kava” on its label, but Reeves said that HISA did not list any ingredient under the “K” alphabetical listing on its prohibited substances list available to trainers prior to the search of Greiner’s barn on June 10.
Greiner testified during his appeal that his son’s fiancée had placed the supplement in his barn for administration to three “non-covered” ponies she kept with the trainer. The supplement was in a feed room “separate” from Greiner’s tack and feed rooms in the barn, the arbitrator wrote.
Although Reeves cited multiple reasons to find Greiner was unaware of the presence of a prohibited substance in his barn and had taken reasonable precautions to comply with HISA rules, she also wrote that trainers must be ultimately held accountable to some degree for the items in their work areas.
“The Arbitrator determines that Mr. Greiner should receive the benefit of a reduction in his level of fault, to the low end of the ‘light’ degree of fault objective range,” Reeves wrote.
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