Stewards Knew of Late Shot Before Race Yet Did Nothing

In the best reporting to date on the California Horse Racing Board's bungling of the medication rules violation, it is revealed that Steward Gina Powell was aware of and reported the violation, but was ignored.

An associate steward at the track that day, Gina Powell, said she told racing officials before the race that Intercontinental had been given the late shot, but she said she was ignored. She cited video from a hand-held camera that showed the shot being administered late. [San Diego Union-Tribune]

Ingrid Fermin, CHRB Executive Director and chief cover up specialist continues to deny wrong doing on the part of the stewards or the CHRB.

"The stewards did not know beforehand," Fermin said. "If they had known beforehand, the horse would have been scratched. Dr. (William) Bell (the state veterinarian at the track) did not know beforehand, and I did not know beforehand. When they did the investigation, they sanctioned the veterinarian."

She appears to be continuing her mantra that because the vet was fined, the matter is settled. She began using this sweep-it-under-the-rug tactic on Wednesday, as reported by the Thoroughbred Times: "It was not a good situation, but the vet was cited and fined. Any protest of the result would have had to come within 72 hours of the race, and as far as I know, this was only brought up within the last week or so." This is the same arrogance, systemic in horse racing, that Churchill displayed when firing their starter over gate loading tactics.

Most disconcerting is that Ms. Fermin has beaten the law-and-order drum to further her strict enforcement of drug violations, but now that the CHRB has been shown to be, at minimum, complicit in the cover up of this violation, she wants the matter to pass without scrutiny. Luckily, the Chairman of CHRB, Richard Shapiro, is willing to investigate the matter and said "If the CHRB or anyone else did anything wrong, let's find out about it, fix it, and move on." [Thoroughbred Times] Ms. Fermin seems to want to skip the first two steps and just move on.

There is no denying that a late scratch of the overwhelming favorite in the day's feature race would have cost an immense amount of money. Intercontinental went off as the odds on favorite, garnering most of the wagering pool. I do not doubt that this was part of the calculus when dismissing Ms. Powell's complaint that the medication had been given late.