Trainer Nevada Litfin gets five-year suspension

Nevada Litfin, a trainer who has most recently shuttled between Oaklawn Park in Arkansas and Canterbury Park in Minnesota, has accepted a five-year suspension of his license from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority after admitting to running his stable while he was suspended last year for medication violations.

Litfin, who won 21 races last year from 146 starts before receiving two suspensions totaling 120 days, “continued to engage in the care and training” of his horses during the suspensions, which ran from Aug. 23 to Jan. 21, according to an agreed order posted on the HISA website on Thursday.

Litfin was initially suspended under charges of the attempted administration of controlled substances and “deceptive or obstructive conduct to avoid detection or adjudication of a controlled medication violation,” according to an earlier ruling. A subsequent barn search in the summer of 2023 at Canterbury Park turned up syringes, another violation.

Two employees of Litfin were also sanctioned for their involvement in Litfin’s stable during the time when he admitted to running the stable during his suspension.

Heather Davis, an employee described as a groom in a ruling, was suspended three years. The ruling said that “Davis admits she has never been licensed to act as a trainer.” According to Equibase records, Davis has no listed starts.

Briannah McDaniel, who has started 60 horses between 2020 and 2023 as a licensed trainer, was suspended 45 days. Her ruling states that she admitted “during the period of Litfin’s ineligibility … to serve as his ‘paper trainer.’ ” The ruling also said that she provided “substantial assistance” during the adjudication of the case.

Litfin has won 194 races from 2,194 starts stretching back to 2000, for career purse earnings of $3.5 million.

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