Posts Tagged ‘roger licht’

By Ray Paulick
“If I had a rifle, I’d have shot him out of the saddle.” That’s how the late Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham responded when asked about the ride he got from another Hall of Famer, Sandy Hawley, when the Canadian jockey went to the early lead aboard the late-running Kentucky Derby winner, Gato del Sol, in a turf marathon at Santa Anita Park in 1984. The Bald Eagle was only kidding…I think.

Times have changed in this more politically correct era. These days, trainers are more likely to go to the stewards and complain when a jockey fails to follow their instructions in a race. That’s what John Glenney did when he was unhappy with the ride Joel Rosario gave him aboard a colt that finished fourth in a Del Mar maiden turf race on Sept. 6. Glenney told Rosario to keep Cedros in the clear; the horse ended up on the rail down the stretch. Glenney’s anger over Rosario’s failure to follow his instructions were exacerbated when Rosario’s agent, Vic Stauffer, made a flippant remark to him over the phone the next morning about whether or not Cedros was for sale.
 
But what happened next is a good example of how convoluted our game can be. Instead of looking into the complaint, talking to all the principles involved, and dismissing the case before it made headlines, the California Horse Racing Board rushed to file a complaint against Rosario, unfairly tarnishing the reputation of one of the brightest lights in California racing, and in the process giving the sport an unnecessary black eye.

How the complaint against Rosario–for not putting forth his best effort and conduct detrimental to horse racing–reached the point of a public “trial” in front of the stewards is only one of the questions that begs an answer. Why did the lead investigator in this case not talk with Rosario before a formal complaint was filed? And if Rosario’s ride aboard Cedros was deemed “questionable” by CHRB steward Scott Cheney, as he was quoted as saying, why was the accused jockey not called in by the stewards to review the film of the race, something that is standard operating procedure?

I called the CHRB to try and get answers to those questions but was told by Mike Marten, the agency’s public information officer, neither the CHRB nor its investigators would not talk about the Rosario case or how the agency’s investigations in general are conducted.

Some might say “the system worked” because the complaint against Rosario was dismissed by the stewards after a hearing. However, that was not until the 24-year-old rising star from the Dominican Republic had his name dragged through the mud on one of the most serious charges a jockey can face in the eyes of the betting public and the trainers and owners for whom he rides.

‘DOES YOUR JOCKEY FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS?’
The saga began in August, according to Stauffer, when Glenney approached the agent at Del Mar and asked, “Does your jockey follow instructions?”

“Yes, he does, who are you?” answered Stauffer, who said Glenney then identified himself and said “I can’t find jockeys to follow instructions, and I need a jockey who will do what I say. I should be winning, and I’m not because the jockeys aren’t following instructions.’”

Stauffer said he went over the horses in Glenney’s barn with the trainer and wasn’t interested in riding any of them with the exception of Cedros. “I liked his race the day Aaron Gryder rode him,” Stauffer recalled, “but Glenney said Gryder rode the horse like an ‘idiot.’” Cedros had finished second, beaten a head at 25-1, under Gryder on Aug. 9.

Glenney agreed to ride Rosario on Cedros and the jockey worked him once before the Sept. 6 race, according to Stauffer.

Rosario, who had been leading rider at Hollywood Park during the spring-summer meeting and was about to lock up the Del Mar riding title, rode four winners on Sept. 6, including the $350,000 Del Mar Derby aboard Rendezvous for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. Stauffer, who said he bet $250 to win on Cedros because he thought the nearly 9-2 odds were overly generous, approached the rider after Cedros finished fourth in what was the day’s final race.

“I greeted Joel on his way back to the jockeys’ room to congratulate him and he said he couldn’t manage the horse he just rode,” Stauffer recalled. “He said the horse had ability but had the wrong bit and that we had to tell the trainer to change his equipment. ‘If he doesn’t consider changing the equipment I won’t ride him again.’”

Cedros fought for the early lead on the outside from the nine post in the 1 1/16-mile turf race, setting quick fractions of :23.11 for the opening quarter mile and :46.62 for the half. Down the backside, two horses made a strong move past the dueling leaders, and Rosario let them go. He wound up on the rail at the top of the stretch—against Glenney’s wishes—and lost a photo finish for third. The winner came from dead last. Rosario raised the whip in his left hand in mid-stretch, but Cedros appeared to shy from it and drifted out, prompting Rosario not to strike the horse.

The next morning, while Stauffer was visiting trainer Hollendorfer and his assistant, Dan Ward, the subject of Cedros came up. Ward called a replay of the race up on his computer and, according to Stauffer, told Hollendorfer, “You ought to look at this. This is a nice horse.”

Hollendorfer, according to Stauffer, was not interested for two reasons: 1) he was heading to the Keeneland September yearling sale where he planned to be active as a buyer, and 2) he had a previous experience with Glenney and didn’t want to do any more business with him.

“Jerry said to Dan, ‘You like the horse, you call the guy,’” Stauffer said. “Dan said, ‘I’m not calling him, that guy’s crazy,’ then said, ‘Vic, you call him.’”

Stauffer said it’s his custom to follow up with trainers Rosario had ridden for and called Glenney from Hollendorfer’s tack room, putting the call on speaker phone. “I asked Glenney how he was doing and he says, ‘How am I doing? How do you think I am? Terrible. That was a horrible ride.’ Then he goes off for two or three minutes on a diatribe about how bad Rosario rode his horse and how could this kid call himself a leading rider.’ I thought it was a basic rant by a losing trainer. I hear it all the time.

“So at the end of his rant, I said to him, ‘So, I guess you don’t want to sell him, huh?’ That was designed to make Jerry and Dan laugh. It was said flippantly and benignly. There was no actual initiation of being mildly interested in buying the horse. Jerry had already said he wouldn’t buy the horse from the guy. So I said this thing that I thought was sarcastic and flippant. Glenney blew up. ‘Buy the horse…are you kidding me?’ I said, ‘Yes, I was just kidding.’ He then reiterated all the admonitions about Joel’s ride, this time more aggressively.”

Stauffer listed and after a few minutes more said he told Glenney, “OK, have a nice day,” and hung up the phone. “That was the entire conversation and the entire spirit of the conversation that I had with John Glenney,” Stauffer said. “Nothing before or since.”

A few days later, the day after a late-night bachelor party prior to his Sept. 12 wedding, Stauffer got an 8 a.m. call from CHRB investigator Rick Amieva, saying a complaint had been filed against Rosario for not putting in his best effort. Stauffer said Amieva asked about his conversation with Glenney the morning after the race and asked, ‘Who approached you?’

“(Amieva) said, ‘I’ve seen the videotape. It’s obvious that he’s guilty of what is being alleged.’ And I said, ‘Hold on there. Are you certified as a film analyst?’ He said ‘no,’ and I told him, ‘So you have taken it upon yourself to analyze this film and you are telling me it’s obvious Joel is guilty?’ He said, ‘Yes.’”

Stauffer said he was caught off-guard by the call and asked Amieva if he could go back over the questions the investigator had asked him. “I think the first thing I said was the ramblings of a sleeping person,” said Stauffer. “I asked if I could restate the answers to his questions, because I wanted to make sure he got all the facts.”

Amieva, Stauffer believes, is a “bitter” person who has been passed over for promotions by the CHRB. “I think he said, ‘Aha. Now we’ve got a conspiracy. I’ve got him changing his story. This is going to put me on the map as an investigator because it’s race fixing.”

After that conversation, Stauffer immediately called Glenney and “used every cuss word that I know. I asked how he could have the nerve to do this when his horse just didn’t perform to his expectations.” Glenney hung up on Stauffer.

One week later, after Amieva consulted with his superiors, chief investigator Rod Coulter and supervising special investigator Bill Westermann, the CHRB filed a formal complaint against Rosario.

STEWARDS HEARING, THEN A DISMISSAL
After several delays, a hearing was conducted in front of stewards Randy Winick, Kim Sawyer and Albert Christiansen, beginning Nov. 19, and then continued in early December. Attorney Roger Licht, a former chairman of the CHRB and a racetrack regular, was hired to represent Rosario. Deputy attorney general Kenneth Jones prosecuted the case for the CHRB.

 

Amieva relied on backup or safety steward Luis Jauregui to analyze the film of the race in question, but Jauregui’s comments, curiously, were not included in the investigator’s report. Neither did Amieva interview Rosario before the CHRB complaint was filed. It was only afterwards, and at the insistence of Licht, that Amieva interviewed the jockey. Both Licht and Stauffer said Amieva had declined to talk with Rosario because, the investigator had said, “I know what he was going to say anyways.”

“From everything I’ve been told, (Amieva) would flunk law enforcement 101 because he had the opportunity to interview the subject and he didn’t,” said Licht.

As previously reported here, Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens contacted Stauffer after he learned of the complaint and offered to testify on Rosario’s behalf, calling the charges against the rider a “joke” and analyzing in detail what he felt happened during the race. “Gary Stevens was a tremendous witness,” said Licht. “He was very thorough and credible. You couldn’t ask for a better expert witness. He said the charges were not warranted and also spoke about Joel’s integrity.”

Hollenderfer and Ward also testified, corroborating the conversation they’d had with Stauffer and his phone call to Glenney the morning after Cedros raced. They also talked about Rosario’s character and ability.

Glenney testified about his post-race conversation with Stauffer and an exercise rider for Cedros said she did not consider the horse “unmanageable” during training. Neither Jauregui nor steward Cheney would condemn Rosario’s ride in their testimony at the hearing, leaving the CHRB and Jones with a flimsy case, at best. In his summation, Jones said he was convinced there was no conspiracy, that the video tape was the principal evidence. No charges were ever filed against Stauffer.

“Jones never had his heart in this,” Stauffer said. “He knew he was pissing in the wind, and you could tell he was pursuing this because the CHRB insisted.”

On Dec. 13, two days after closing arguments, the stewards voted unanimously to clear Rosario of all of the charges against him. The witch hunt was over.

THE AFTERMATH
Stauffer said the damage to Rosario’s reputation due to what he called “negligence” by Amieva in investigating the case is “irreparable,” adding that “people all around the country have drawn their conclusions about his guilt. You can never fix that reputation. You can’t get it back. Believe me, Joel is the absolute antithesis of what they say he did.”

Stauffer said there are no plans at present to file a lawsuit, “but we are hoping the CHRB will take it upon themselves to investigate Amieva’s shoddy work. I will not rest until Amieva is held responsible, or whoever was pushing Amieva is held responsible for gross negligence.”

“The CHRB argued that they owe the duty to the industry to investigate everything that appears to be unscrupulous,” said Licht. “There’s nothing wrong with an investigation. The mistake was in bringing the charges prematurely.”

The case hasn’t slowed down Rosario’s success in Southern California. He won his third California riding title at the just-concluded Hollywood Park meeting, where Stauffer also serves as track announcer. On the final day of his hearing, Rosario went out that afternoon and rode six winners in eight races, equaling a record held by three Hall of Famers—Bill Shoemaker, Laffit Pincay Jr., and Kent Desormeaux.

“My heart is broken that he had to go through this,” said Stauffer. “He is such a fine young man. He really exemplifies everything that is good about jockeys.

“I also feel terrible about my contribution, which was stupid. How do you know when you’re saying something benign and flippant that it will morph into this? I wish I had been smarter.”

I wish the CHRB had demonstrated more intelligence, too. From all appearances, the investigation was shoddy from the start, and a formal complaint would never have been filed if the CHRB’s Amieva had talked with all of the parties involved. The case has unnecessarily tainted not just a future superstar, but the sport as a whole.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in the Paulick Report.

Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

By Ray PaulickThe California Horse Racing Board has created a potential mess by appointing its former executive director, Ingrid Fermin, as one of three individuals on the board of stewards during the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club meeting that began on Wednesday.

Fermin’s tenure as head of the state agency, which lasted three years, ended in 2007  when she said she did not want to relocate to Sacramento, home of the CHRB’s headquarters, as required by the board. There were several controversies and internal turmoil during her time as executive director, and some critics reportedly accused her of showing favoritism in appointments and contracts.

Foremost among those critics is owner Jerry Jamgotchian, who has filed several lawsuits against the CHRB, sent hundreds if not thousands of e-mails critical of Fermin, former CHRB chairman Richard Shapiro and others, and recently told the Paulick Report Fermin was “the most corrupt” executive director and steward in CHRB history.

When Fermin (pictured, left) was named one of three stewards for the Del Mar meeting, resuming a career she began in 1981 as the first female steward in California history, Jamgotchian requested a hearing with the CHRB to stop the appointment, saying that Fermin was biased against certain trainers and owners. The furor over the appointment ramped up when several trainers, including Mike Mitchell, Jeff Mullins, Art Sherman and Doug O’Neill, appealed to have Fermin recuse herself from judging races in which they have horses. There have been accusations that Fermin specifically targeted certain trainers in post-race drug testing while she was CHRB executive director. Fermin told the San Diego Union-Tribune the accuslations were “baseless” and “twisted.”

Jamgotchian’s complaint against Fermin stemmed from an incident in 2005 involving a horse owned by Jamgotchian that he wanted to scratch from a race at Del Mar. After a steward refused to allow the horse to be scratched, the horse ran and suffered an injury. UPDATE: While Jamgotchian has alleged that the horse, John’s Kinda Girl, was injured in that Aug. 14, 2005, race, the filly subsequently worked out three times over the next six weeks, and raced Oct. 7, 2005, and 12 more times in the next year, winning two of those races.

Jamgotchian’s request for a hearing before the Del Mar meet opened was denied when Fermin declined to attend. After the board met privately in executive session on Thursday, CHRB chairman John Harris said during the public portion of the regularly-scheduled monthly meeting that the stewards named for the Del Mar meeting would be retained. Harris also was board chairman when Fermin was appointed CHRB executive director in 2004.

Things appeared to change somewhat on Friday, however, when owner Martin Wygod, a member of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s board of directors and one of the most influential owners in California racing, reportedly asked Fermin to recuse herself from presiding over a race in which one of his horses was running. According to a report in the North County Times, former jockey Luis Jaurequi, now a “safety steward,” would have substituted for Fermin in judging any inquiry or claim of foul involving one of Wygod’s horses in that race. Does that mean Fermin would have judged foul claims in the same race if they didn’t involve Wygod’s horse?

Wygod is believed to have been upset with Fermin ever since an incident involving 2-year-old champion Sweet Catomine at Santa Anita three years ago when the filly left the grounds for medical treatment prior to the Santa Anita Derby. Wygod was charged, following an investigation led by Fermin, with having the filly falsely identified when she was vanned out of the stable area and exhibiting conduct detrimental to racing. The charges, which could have resulted in Wygod having his owner’s license suspended, were dismissed following a hearing.

Jamgotchian went on to say that Wygod threatened to scratch his horse from the race if Fermin failed to recuse herself as a steward in that race. “Fermin agreed,” Jamgotchian wrote, “and her recusal was made in front of fellow Stewards Scott Chaney, Tom Ward and in the presence of other parties in the room, including Wygod.”

Jamgotchian said he called Wygod’s attorney, Roger Licht, “to confirm the above facts regarding their recusal agreement with Fermin” and that Licht told him “there was an ‘oral’ confidentiality agreement in place with Fermin and that he could not discuss Fermin’s recusal.”

Jamgotchian said he also tried unsuccessfully to speak with Fermin by telephone before the first race and said he intends to file a complaint with the CHRB regarding the “Wygod recusal” and demand an investigation by the CHRB because of what he called a “unilateral” decision and one that was not publicly disclosed.

If the North County Times article and Jamgotchian’s assertions are accurate, it appears either the CHRB or Fermin are applying a double standard when it comes to Fermin recusing herself from races in which the principals involved feel as though there is a bias by her against them. If she recused herself in a race involving Wygod, shouldn’t she do the same in races involving the trainers who have made similar appeals?

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

Savvy businesses recognize value. Advertise in the Paulick Report.

Support the Paulick Report. Make a donation today.

Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary from Ray Paulick

By Ray Paulick
December was a cruel month for Richard Shapiro, who stepped down as chairman of the California Horse Racing Board on Dec. 15, only a few days after learning that a significant portion of his life savings and pension was lost in the $50-billion Ponzi scheme allegedly perpetrated by Bernard Madoff.

January wasn’t much better.

Shapiro on Jan. 12 sent a letter asking for help from his Congressman, Brad Sherman, a Democrat representing the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. He suggested, among other things, that Sherman push for the Internal Revenue Service to relax time restrictions for victims to recover taxes they paid on false income reported to them by Madoff. Shapiro sent the letter to some other members of Congress and to another Madoff victim he knew, asking that he consider writing similar letters to elected officials. He also suggested his friend contact others who lost their investments, urging them to write members of Congress for help.

Shortly thereafter, the letter Shapiro thought was private was being widely distributed by California-based Thoroughbred owner Jerry Jamgotchian, who for the past few years has been a relentless critic of Shapiro and many of the policies he influenced as CHRB chairman. Shapiro’s personal tragedy became a very public matter.

How Jamgotchian got a copy of Shapiro’s letter, however, is in dispute.

Shapiro insists Jamgotchian was forwarded a copy of the letter by Los Angeles attorney Roger Licht, whose CHRB seat Shapiro filled when he was appointed to the board by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2004. Licht, an appointee of Democrat Gray Davis, served from February 2001 through July 2004, including one year as chairman, in 2003. Shapiro was chairman from January 2006 until his resignation from the board last December.

Both Licht and Jamgotchian deny Shapiro’s charge that Licht sent Jamgotchian a copy of the letter.

The other Madoff victim contacted by Shapiro forwarded a copy of the letter to Los Angeles entrepreneur Steve Weston, who also was victimized in the investment scam. When rumors about Shapiro being stung by Madoff began circulating in horse racing circles, Shapiro contacted Weston to find out whether he had forwarded the letter to anyone else, and Weston confirmed he had sent it on Jan. 13 to Licht, who was representing him in the Madoff case.

On Jan. 15, when the first published reports of Shapiro’s letter to Rep. Sherman appeared, Weston sent an email to Shapiro saying he had “queried Licht as to whether or not he had sent it to anyone. It was at that point,” Weston continued, “that he told me that he had faxed it to some guy I had never heard of named Jamgotchian. When you and I spoke later that same morning you asked me to call Licht and confirm who he had sent it to and ask them to stop sending it out, I did as you asked. I called Licht again and he confirmed it was Jamgotchian he had sent it to. He placed the phone down so that I could hear him call this guy and I heard him ask Jamgotchian to please stop sending the letter out to anyone else. When he got back on the phone with me he told me that Jamgotchian had told him that he would stop.”

Licht was asked by the Paulick Report if he had sent a copy of the letter to Jamgotchian. “No,” he said. “What’s this all about? You’re the third reporter who’s called about this.”

When Weston’s email to Shapiro was read to Licht, he responded, “I don’t know what Steve Weston is talking about.”

“He told you that?” Weston said, when informed by the Paulick Report of Licht’s comments. “I have emails from him to me apologizing for what he did. I was also on the phone with him when he called Jamgotchian and asked him to stop sending it around. Did he actually deny it? I’m surprised to hear he would lie like that.”

Weston went on to say it would be “ludicrous” to criticize Shapiro or anyone else who invested money with Madoff. “Look at the people who got burned,” he added, “people like Mort Zuckerman and Steven Spielberg. Some of the smartest people in the financial world were victims. This was a failing of the SEC. No investor’s judgment should be called into question.”

 “I question the ethics, morals and purpose for Mr. Licht in turn forwarding a copy of the letter to Jerry Jamgotchian,” Shapiro said in a statement. “Clearly doing so was not related to the services he was asked to perform as an attorney representing a client, and his dissemination of my letter to an unrelated third party was done with the sole purpose of malicious intent towards me at the minimum.” Shapiro now questions if it’s possible “much of what Jamgotchian has claimed for years has in fact been fed to him by Licht since he was a prior member of the CHRB.”

Jamgotchian readily admits distributing Shapiro’s letter but categorically denies receiving it from Licht.

“Shapiro is nothing but a blatant and pathological liar,” Jamgotchian said. “Put that in red letters and bold. Somebody faxed it to me. I got it two days after the fact, and I immediately started blasting it out (Jan. 14). I got it from somebody in the press. Why would I get anything from Roger Licht? That’s like saying I got it from (CHRB acting chairman) John Harris. They’re (CHRB) not going to help me with this.”

Jamgotchian’s public criticism of the CHRB and Shapiro began in 2005, after Licht had left the board. Jamgotchian has filed several complaints against the CHRB since then and has been a constant thorn in Shapiro’s side. The Paulick Report asked Jamgotchian why he has been so critical of Shapiro, who is best known for pushing the mandate that California tracks install synthetic surfaces.

“The destruction of California racing,” Jamgotchian said. “My inability to race in California.  The destruction of the California breeding industry. The inability to race on dirt tracks. Millions of dollars he’s cost me as an owner. Loss of purses in California. The ADW mess. Reduced track attendance. Closing of racetracks in California. Increased training and vet fees. When I sold all my horses at a huge loss at Barretts. He’s solely responsible for it. He and his stupid decisions with synthetic racetracks, heel nerving and other mistakes he’s made. The last thing he did was get the CHRB budget thrown out in front of the GO (Governmental Organization) Committee.”

In a later email, Jamgotchian wrote: “Shapiro vacuous decisions has put track employees, tote sellers and many horseracing people out of work and took away their dreams!”

After feeling his personal life had been invaded, Shapiro contacted Bloodhorse magazine and Thoroughbred Times to tell his side of the story and express his belief that Licht was responsible for sending a copy of the letter to Jamgotchian.  Neither publication, Shapiro told the Paulick Report, would publish the story.

For his part, Shapiro said he has “endured for years the insults and ridiculous claims” from Jamgotchian. “It is beyond the bounds of decency that (Licht and Jamgotchian) would find joy in someone else’s difficulties,” he said.

Shapiro also said his resignation from the board was unrelated to the financial problems resulting from his Madoff investments. Shapiro, in fact, did tell the Paulick Report during a visit to Lexington for the Keeneland September yearling sale that he was contemplating leaving the CHRB and pursuing a non-regulatory industry position. He has been widely rumored to be a leading candidate to head up the Sacramento-based Federation of California Racing Associations.

“I remain committed and hopeful of helping the sport in any way possible,” he said.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

Visit the Paulick Report for all the latest news throughout the racing world.

Sign up for our Email Flashes to get the latest news, analysis and commentary.