Trainer Wong suspended following banned-substance positive test on one of his starters

Jonathan Wong, a perennial leading trainer in Northern California who has a stable of more than 110 horses in California and the Midwest, has been provisionally suspended by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit after one of his starters at Horseshoe Indianapolis tested positive for a banned substance on June 1.

The positive was announced on HIWU’s website over the weekend.

Heaven and Earth, the winner of a maiden race for Indiana-bred fillies, tested positive for metformin, a medication prescribed for diabetes.

In an interview on Sunday, Wong said he takes metformin for diabetes.

Studies have been conducted on the medication for use in treating horses with equine metabolic syndrome, or the ability to regulate blood insulin levels.

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It was not immediately clear who would train Wong’s stable, which is based at Sacramento and Santa Anita in California, and in Kentucky at Turfway Park and at a training center.

“It’s up to my owners,” Wong said in a brief phone conversation.

Wong said he was informed of the positive on Saturday morning and given little time to reorganize his stable. His one runner on Sunday’s program at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Calif., was scratched, racing officials said.

Under HIWU rules, positive tests for banned substances can result in a two-year suspension, which can be reduced for factors such as cooperating during an investigation or admitting guilt. Under rules set forth earlier this year by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, licensees, such as a trainer, who are charged with positives for banned substances can be provisionally suspended prior to a hearing.

Alan Pincus, Wong’s attorney, blasted the legal procedures used by HIWU for trainers with provisional suspensions.

Pincus said he is representing Pennsylvania-based trainer Mario Dominguez, who was given a provisional suspension for a cobalt positive that occurred in a winner at Parx Racing, near Philadelphia, on May 24.

In a phone interview, Pincus cited the lack of due process related to provisional suspensions, notably the absence of the finding of a split sample test that can confirm or refute the findings of the initial test that led to the positive.

“Their system is fundamentally unconstitutional,” he said. “I will seek to prove that.

“What happens if the split sample comes back and it’s not a positive?

“Let a person have a chance to defend themselves.”

Wong, 34, has won 1,194 races since his career began in 2014, including a career-best 236 races in 2021. Wong’s stable was initially based in Northern California, but has branched into Southern California in recent seasons.

Wong has won every training title at the 16 non-fair meetings at Golden Gate Fields since the beginning of 2018. At the winter-spring meeting that ended last month, Wong led all trainers with 56 wins, three more than Isidro Tamayo.

Last fall, Wong announced he planned to develop a stable based in Kentucky and reduce his stable in California.

Aside from Golden Gate Fields, Wong has won races this year at Belterra Park, Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Mahoning Valley, Parx Racing, Santa Anita and Turfway Park.

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