Zulueta enters guilty plea in drug case

Marcos Zulueta, one of three Thoroughbred trainers indicted last year on charges related to the illegal administration of substances to racehorses, entered a guilty plea to one federal felony charge of drug adulteration or misbranding conspiracy “with intent to defraud or mislead” during a hearing on Friday.

Zulueta, 53, a native of Cuba who is a naturalized citizen, became the eighth indicted individual in the case to change an initial not-guilty plea to a guilty plea. A ninth, the Standardbred trainer Chris Oakes, has also told the court he plans to change his initial not-guilty plea. A total of 27 individuals were indicted in March last year.

According to an agreement reached with prosecutors as part of the guilty plea, Zulueta will forfeit $45,000 in illegal proceeds. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 24.

According to the indictment, Zulueta was captured on multiple wiretaps discussing exchanges of purportedly illegal substances with Jorge Navarro, another indicted trainer who has entered a guilty plea. The prosecution has contended that the substances being discussed were synthetic blood-doping products and painkillers. The two were also caught on a wiretap discussing a raceday “drench,” which typically refers to a substance or mixture of substances administered into a horse’s mouth with an oral syringe.

Zulueta issued the change-of-plea in front of Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, where the case was brought. Trials in the case are expected to begin early next year.

During the hearing, Vyskocil asked Zulueta to describe why he was guilty “in his own words.” Zulueta speaks in halting English, but he admitted to receiving drugs via mail from Ross Cohen, a New York-based Standardbred trainer who was also indicted, and administering them to horses he trained at Parx racing outside Philadelphia for several months in 2019.

“I don’t see no results,” Zulueta said, “so that two or three months before I got arrested,” he explained, he did not administer the substance. Zulueta did not identify the substance that he said he administered.

To clarify, Vyskocil asked Zulueta if “you intended for these drugs to cause your horses to run better.”

“Yes, your honor,” Zulueta replied. “One-hundred percent, your honor.”

Sarah Mortazavai, an assistant U.S. attorney who is prosecuting the case, repeated the allegations in the indictments when asked by Vyskocil about the government’s case, specifically referencing the “blood-building” drugs discussed on the wiretap and stressing that the substances were not authorized by the FDA and were mislabeled.

The indicted individuals in the case include trainers, veterinarians, drug manufacturers, and sales representatives of the manufacturers. One high-profile Thoroughbred trainer, Jason Servis, has entered a not-guilty plea and is awaiting a ruling from Vyskocil on a motion to suppress evidence gleaned from wiretaps.

Zulueta trained 455 winners from 1,884 starts from 2011 until being banned following the release of the initial indictment in early March of 2020, for a career strike rate of 24 percent. His total purse earnings during that period was $13.2 million. He raced largely in the mid-Atlantic region, an area where Jorge Navarro also trained.