Posts Tagged ‘IEAH stable’

In the nine hours of Breeders’ Cup telecasts last Friday and Saturday, the strangest segment by far came during a brief interview between comedic sportscaster Kenny Mayne and Michael Iavarone, president of the IEAH stable that owns a majority of Big Brown, when Iavarone said he and members of his family had been the subject of a death threat more than four months earlier on the morning of the Belmont Stakes.

Mayne opened the interview by saying Iavarone showed a lot of emotion after jockey Kent Desormeaux pulled Big Brown out of the race at the top of the stretch when the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner was hopelessly beaten.

Iavarone picked it up from there.

“The morning of the (June 7) Belmont Stakes, I had been woken up around 10 a.m.,” he told Mayne. "There was a knock on my door and there were several New York City Police Department detectives. They asked me to come outside because they didn’t want to talk to me in front of my family. They told me there had been a serious death threat lodged against me, basically from Tallahassee, Florida, from an extremist saying that if anything should happen to Big Brown in the race, myself and my family were not safe. Basically I was followed by eight to nine New York detectives all day, everywhere I went. Obviously after the horse was pulled up the rest is obvious.”

Mayne said ESPN/ABC learned of Iavarone’s story the day before the live interview aired and suggested that Iavarone’s emotional reaction to Big Brown’s defeat was “painted by that threat, not what the shortfall was of not winning the Triple Crown.”

“My immediate reaction was split in half,” Iavarone told Mayne. “Obviously there was concern for the horse and concern for my family. I was headed in both directions and both of them were catastrophic at the time. The first thing I did was grab my daughters and make sure we were out of the way and safe and tears were falling. It was just a terrible day for us.”

With 24 hours lead time before the interview, Mayne said ESPN/ABC “tried to contact the detective you said investigated the case and were unable to reach him.” He then asked Iavarone, “Did they ever follow up with you and say the case was closed? Do you feel comfortable now?”

“Obviously the horse is sound and is retired so I would not believe they would have any reason to harm myself or my family,” Iavarone said. “They have not told me the case is closed.”

The strange timing of Iavarone’s revelations notwithstanding, there are some details about his story that just don’t add up. I was seated directly behind Iavarone in the box section of Belmont during the running of the Belmont Stakes, and saw just one person who was clearly serving in a security capacity – a burly African-American man wearing a dark suit, an open collared white shirt and a “Big Brown” button on his lapel. It appears to be the same individual who has traveled with Iavarone to other races, including last weekend’s Breeders’ Cup.

Immediately after the race, while Big Brown was being unsaddled, I stood directly below the IEAH box and took a series of photographs of a shocked Iavarone, who was surrounded by his family members and fellow IEAH executive Richard Schiavo. There appeared to be no additional security around Iavarone and his family, only the same bodyguard described above. Certainly, I didn’t see “eight or nine New York detectives” in the immediate area.

I’m not accusing Iavarone of making up a story about a death threat. There were a series of incidents and revelations that made Iavarone something of a lightning rod with individuals within and outside of the racing community, some of which inflamed animal rights activities. There was the revelation that Big Brown raced legally on anabolic steroids when he won the Derby, the disclosure that Iavarone had lied about his past life as a “high profile banker on Wall Street,” the fact he had been fined and suspended by the National Association of Security Dealers, and the determination to run Big Brown in the Belmont despite suffering a quarter crack and missing training before the race.

Attempts by the Paulick Report to contact New York Racing Association officials to determine their knowledge of the alleged death threat and increased New York Police Department security detail were not successful.

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Jess Jackson, majority owner of Horse of the Year Curlin, now wants the owners of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown to consider taking Curlin on in the Jockey Club Gold Cup Sept. 27 at Belmont Park. On Wednesday morning, Jackson challenged the owners to run Big Brown in the Aug. 30 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga, where Curlin will race next, but Michael Iavarone of IEAH Stables said the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita Oct. 24 is where the championship should be decided.

 

Jackson issued the following statement late Wednesday afternoon:

 

“I am delighted that we are talking about Curlin on the day that Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian ever. Great athletes deserve great company. This is what sports is about — the thrill of competition. And it is my belief that Thoroughbred racing is indeed the greatest sport of all time.

 

“I made a sportsman’s proposal to Big Brown’s connections this morning to race at Saratoga Race Course in the Grade 1 Woodward on August 30, and they declined the invitation. I am disappointed by the news. I read this morning that Big Brown might be looking for a turf race at Belmont Park, so apparently, his connections are looking at other options this fall.

 

“I would ask Big Brown’s camp to consider the prestigious Grade 1, $750,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Invitational at Belmont Park on September 27 as an option. It’s a prestigious, prized race on a natural dirt surface at one of the great tracks in the world. Big Brown is a champion Thoroughbred and, most certainly, would be prepared to race at the end of September. Perhaps we could work together to get the Breeder’s Cup to add an incentive to the purse so that a specific charity would get a bigger slice of the pie.

 

“This has long been a part of my platform for this industry - bigger purses.

 

"Another part of my personal platform is to make charitable contributions. When Barbara and I bought Curlin, we immediately established the Jackson Curlin for Kids Fund whose purpose is to make a difference in the lives of children where Curlin runs or trains. In February of this year, we donated $1 million to The Woods Laboratory for equine and human cancer and infertility research. Plus we give millions to more than 600 charities every year because we believe it is the right thing to do.   We also are aware of IEAH’s involvement with charitable causes, including the current construction of the Ruffian Equine Medical Center across from Belmont Park. We seem to have two great horses and a common purpose. Why not get them together?

 

"As to the Breeder’s Cup, it is not part of my current plan for Curlin. I felt it was the sporting thing to do to announce Curlin’s schedule to give fair notice to anyone looking to compete against the reigning Horse of the Year this fall.

           

"Our plan is to focus on the Woodward, look to the Jockey Cup Gold Cup, hopefully with Big Brown in the field, and review our plans after that.

"Ultimately, all of us have to do what is in the best interest of our horse. I wish Big Brown well and hope Curlin has the opportunity to compete against him. It certainly would help the industry and please the fans of both of these majestic horses."

Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report

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Two years ago, Deep Impact, a two-time Horse of the Year in Japan, traveled to Paris to take on the world’s best grass runners in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Thousands of Japanese fans followed the horse to France and bet with such confidence that Deep Impact was the odds-on favorite to win what is arguably Europe’s most prestigious race.

The son of Sunday Silence could do no better than third, however, a stinging loss that paled in comparison to the news that followed  days later, when results of a post-race test showed the presence of the prohibited therapeutic medication Ipratropium, which Deep Impact was allowed to take during training in Japan to treat lung congestion. He had subsequently been treated with the drug in France prior to the Arc.

In a country where honor is in abundance, trainer Yasuo Ikee took the fall. He said he thought he was following the withdrawal time guidelines, but accepted full blame and responsibility for the error. There was no appeal. Ikee apologized to French authorities and to Japanese racing fans. He said he would do everything in his power to never make a similar mistake in the future.

A little over a month later, when Deep Impact scored an overpowering victory back home in the Japan Cup, Ikee was nearly moved to tears during a post-race press conference when asked about his experience in France. He continued to apologize for the medication positive, saying that it was by far the lowest point of his professional career. The Japan Cup win lightened the burden he felt over the Arc defeat and the humiliation of the post-race disqualification, but it was clear he continued to carry a large amount of shame and embarrassment over the incident.

I thought of Yasuo Ikee this past week when American racing’s bad boy, Rick Dutrow, reacted like a petulant child when asked about a positive test by one of his horses racing at Churchill Downs the day before he saddled Big Brown to win the Kentucky Derby. “It’s not my fault, though it’s my responsibility,” he was quoted as saying in a press conference that turned bizarre. Dutrow plans to appeal his 15-day suspension, not because he feels the ruling will be overturned but because the system allows him to delay any suspension through the appeals process, and he wants to put off any punishment as long as possible so he can be with his horses.

How admirable.

Worse, however, Dutrow said, in effect, “Clenbuterol? It’s no big deal.” He not only refused to accept blame for the positive test, he then started suggesting other past and current trainers were bigger cheaters than he was.  

The New York Post’s headline said it best: Big Brown Trainer Mouths Off Again.

If timing is everything, the news of Dutrow’s bad test couldn’t have come at a worse time for IEAH Stable, the majority owner of Big Brown. Only a few days earlier, the outfit pledged to race its horses drug free beginning Oct. 1. Until then, I guess, it’s “Katy, bar the door!”

Dutrow’s clenbuterol positive wasn’t the only time medication was in the news this week. Steve Asmussen, this year’s leading trainer by money and wins and the conditioner of reigning Horse of the Year Curlin, was notified of a positive test for Lidocaine in one of his horses racing in Texas last month. His hearing is scheduled for July 18.

Asmussen has numerous medication violations during his career and served a six-month suspension in late 2006-early 2007 for a mepivacaine positive. Unlike Dutrow,  he was smart enough to allow his attorney do the talking for him, and stuck to training horses. Asmussen’s lead attorney is Maggi Moss, last year’s leading Thoroughbred owner in the U.S. by wins.

Consider this: the trainers of the 2007 Horse of the Year, the 2008 Kentucky Derby winner and the 2008 Kentucky Oaks winner (Larry Jones) are all facing positive drug tests for horses in their care. Anyone who thinks racing doesn’t have a problem is in serious denial.

Finally, in what could turn out to be the most significant medication story of the week, Monmouth Park’s leading trainer, Bruce Levine, had a surprise visitor on Tuesday when a veterinarian working for the New Jersey Racing Commission took “out-of-competition” blood samples  from each of the 41 horses in his barn. The commission will run tests for the blood-doping agent erythropoietin, better known as EPO.

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By Ray Paulick

Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report