Trainer Morfin suspended for methamphetamine positive

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Sergio Morfin, who has won races at the current meetings at Santa Anita and Los Alamitos, has been given a provisional suspension by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after one of his runners tested positive for methamphetamine after finishing second on Dec. 29 at Santa Anita.

The positive was found in a post-race test taken from Wishtheyallcouldbe.

The penalty took effect Sunday. Morfin had one win, three second-place finishers, and four third-place finishers from nine runners at the Los Alamitos evening meeting of Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds on Saturday evening.

Three horses previously trained by Morfin started on Sunday evening at Los Alamitos for trainer Clemente Hurtado. Another runner was scratched.

In addition to Thoroughbreds, Morfin has trained a stable of Quarter Horses. He won the $196,200 El Primero Del Ano Derby at 400 yards at Los Alamitos last March with Hes Chickless.

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Morfin, 49, has won 263 races from 1,571 starters, including 131 races for Thoroughbreds. Morfin has won 10 races at Santa Anita since June 2021, and six races at Del Mar since August 2022.

This is the second methamphetamine penalty to be issued by HIWU to a Southern California trainer in the last year.

Last August, trainer Hector Palma, 86, was given a provisional suspension for a methamphetamine positive found in one of his runners at Del Mar in late July.

In September, four of Palma’s employees were suspended from 30 to 90 days after they tested positive for methamphetamine and/or amphetamine, according to a ruling published by California Horse Racing Board stewards.

In November, Palma’s provisional suspension was lifted by HIWU, which cited a rule that provisional suspensions can be lifted if the agency “considers it appropriate to do so on the specific facts of the case.”

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