Undefeated R Adios Jersey disqualified from Charles Town Oaks win for flunixin positive
R Adios Jersey, an unbeaten filly trained by Georgina Baxter, has been disqualified from last year’s Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks after testing positive for the regulated medication flunixin, an anti-inflammatory drug, according to a ruling from the track’s stewards.
R Adios Jersey, who won the $400,000 Oaks Aug. 27 by 3 1/4 lengths as the 5.40-1 second choice, tested well above the permissible limit for flunixin in both her initial sample and a split, according to the ruling, at approximately 1,000 nanograms per milliliter of blood plasma. The permissible level is five nanograms.
Flunixin is one of three non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that are allowed to be used in racing, generally with the guidance that the drugs should not be administered within 48 hours of a race.
Baxter said on Monday that she will appeal the ruling. She said that R Adios Jersey was never administered flunixin, a drug that Baxter stopped authorizing for use on her horses several years ago after encountering problems with it, she said. R Adios Jersey was administered ketophen, Baxter said, but the drug was given more than 48 hours prior to the race.
“Honestly, hands over my heart, I don’t use that,” Baxter said. “We switched to ketophen years ago.”
Baxter said that because of COVID restrictions, Charles Town did not have a stakes barn for shippers last year. R Adios Jersey was assigned a stall in a regular barn, and she said that horses two stalls to the left and two stalls to the right of the filly received flunixin treatments. The concentration of flunixin in R Adios Jersey’s sample suggested a day-of treatment, Baxter said.
“The filly doesn’t deserve this,” Baxter said.
A DNA test performed on the sample from R Adios Jersey confirmed that the sample came from the filly, according to the ruling.
Baxter was fined $1,000. In the ruling, stewards cited several mitigating factors in deciding the penalty, including that Baxter has not had a medication violation within the 365 days preceding the Oaks.
R Adios Jersey races for Averill Racing and ATM racing. Prior to the disqualification, she had won all six of her races, including a restricted states in March last year one start before the Oaks and then a restricted stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in December of last year.