Woolley granted stay of 180-day suspension during appeals process

Trainer Bennie “Chip” Woolley, who gained fame after winning the 2009 Kentucky Derby with Mine That Bird, has been granted a stay of a 180-day suspension while he appeals the penalty, according to the Arizona Department of Racing and his attorney.

The stay was signed by the department of racing’s executive director, Rudy Casillas, on Feb. 18. Woolley was suspended by the stewards at Turf Paradise in Phoenix on Feb. 15, the same day they conducted a hearing into an incident on Feb. 8 in which a state regulatory veterinarian found Woolley in the stall of a horse with a syringe.

Woolley’s attorney, Ivy Kushner, on Thursday provided Daily Racing Form with the documents she filed seeking the stay. In those documents, Kushner said that the incident on Feb. 8 was an “isolated instance of poor judgment” while arguing that the penalty applied by the Turf Paradise stewards was “excessive” and that there “were errors of law and misconduct by the stewards that deprived” Woolley of due process.

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According to the documents, a regulatory veterinarian, Dr. Susan Gale, saw Woolley and a groom in the stall of the horse Kissable U on Feb. 8 with a “syringe with a clear liquid and capped needle attached.” Woolley told Gale that the syringe contained “magnesium,” the document says, at which point Gale notified the stewards, the needle was confiscated, and Woolley’s stall, tack room, and shed row were searched.

Although the document states that “magnesium” is not a prohibited substance, it is illegal for a trainer to possess hypodermic needles on the backstretch, and it is a violation for a trainer to administer any injection to a horse on race day.

Kissable U was one of three horses that Woolley had entered for that day’s races at Turf Paradise. She was ordered scratched by the stewards. Kushner argued that “no contraband” was found during the searches, and she said that several Turf Paradise officials had testified that there was a “shortage” of veterinary care on the backstretch.

In arguing that the suspension was excessive, Kushner wrote that “it is nothing short of a travesty of justice for the stewards to impose” the penalty given that “Mr. Woolley did not administer a substance at all to a horse, did not possess a foreign substance, and did not run a horse in a race that tested positive.”

Magnesium sulfate, an injectable, is used by some horsemen under the belief that it helps horses recover after strenuous exercise. Horsemen sometimes use the injectable as a wash, squirting the substance into the horse’s mouth.

Kushner also argued that Woolley or a representative of his operation was not in the test barn when officials pulled samples from the three horses scratched that day, in violation of Arizona racing rules.