VINERY SACKS ASMUSSEN
Tuesday, July 8th, 2008Tommy Simon’s Vinery Stable has moved 21 horses from the barn of trainer Steve Asmussen, not long after an allegation of a positive test for traces of the therapeutic anesthetic lidocaine from an Asmussen-trained horse that won a maiden race at Lone Star Park in Texas May 10.
Tom Ludt, general manager of Vinery, confirmed the move to the Paulick Report but would not comment on why the change was made. Ludt said the horses have been distributed among the half-dozen other trainers Vinery employs: Josie Carroll, Larry Jones, Doug O’Neill, Todd Pletcher, Michael Stidham and Michael Trombetta.
Jones is currently awaiting results of a split sample in the wake of an alleged positive test in one of his horses that raced in Delaware for the therapeutic bronchodilator clenbuterol, a Class 3 drug according to the Association of Racing Commissioners International.
Asmussen received notice from the Texas Racing Commission late last month that Timber Trick, a 2-year-old filly owned by Gainesway Stable, tested positive for lidocaine, a Class 2 drug that can be used as a “blocker” but also is found in many non-pharmaceutical products. Texas prohibits any trace of the drug in test samples and is classified as a "zero tolerance" state. Asmussen has retained the legal services of prominent owner Maggi Moss, a trial attorney who put her law practice on hold several years ago to concentrate on her racing stable.
According to the Association of Racing Commissioners International database, Asmussen has a total of 74 rulings involving him, including a number of medication violations, dating back to 1990. He served a six-month suspension in late 2006-early 2007 for a mepivacaine positive in one of his horses racing in Louisiana.
Asmussen, the leading North American trainer by wins and earnings in 2008, is also the conditioner for 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin.
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
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