Misidentified Horse Runs, Wins, Pays $222

When Ruby Queen (Suave), an 0-for-13 maiden filly whose abysmal past performances warranted her 110-to-1 odds, gamely opened up under steady urging to win the ninth race at Mahoning Valley Race Course by 7 1/2 lengths on Wednesday, the shocker of a result seemed too unbelievable to be true.

Shortly after the race went official, it was discovered that it was: within an hour, the Ohio State Racing Commission [OSRC] was investigating what is now believed to be a case of mistaken identity in the race for $5,000 maiden claimers. The Paulick Report was first to break the news that the mix-up occurred.

Bill Crawford, the executive director of the OSRC, told TDN Thursday that the first indication that the $222.40 winner was actually another horse from the barn of owner/trainer Shane M. Spiess came when “Ruby Queen” was led to the post-race test barn and the state veterinarian discovered she was not a filly, but a gelding whose markings and lip tattoo did not match the entrant’s.

Crawford said the gelding in the test barn was identified as Leathers Slappin (D’wildcat), a dark bay 4-year-old NW3L claimer who had most recently finished fifth in a Mahoning Valley race on Monday.

“I can’t say a whole lot because I’m not sure what happened,” Crawford said. “I can certainly speculate. It’s obvious that the track identifier didn’t do his job. He should have identified the horse and it shouldn’t have raced. That being said, I don’t know why the wrong horse was brought to the paddock.”

Crawford said the OSRC will be conducting interviews Friday and Saturday with the hope of coming to a resolution in the case early next week, perhaps resulting in fines, suspensions, purse redistributions, and other penalties.

“The OSRC is taking the lead on the investigation,” said Chris McErlean, the vice president of racing for Penn National Gaming, which operates Mahoning Valley. “We are obviously assisting them and obviously investigating ourselves internally. We’re cooperating. If [a misidentified entrant] was the case, we’re obviously disappointed and embarrassed. We’re certainly trying to find ways to put the proper controls in place so this doesn’t happen again.”

Spiess, a third-generation horseman on the Midwest circuit, did not return a voicemail message asking for his side of the story. According to Equibase, Spiess has 1,381 lifetime wins and $9.2 million in earnings dating back to 1980.

If the horse substitution was a willful attempt to rig the outcome of the race, the pari-mutuel results do not appear to bear that out. The second-through-fourth horses had odds of 20-1, 6-1, and 38-1, respectively, and none of the exotic combinations seem overbet. The $2 exacta paid $1,832.40; the 50-cent trifecta $581.65; the 10-cent superfecta $6,467.01. Of those payoffs, only the trifecta might be considered slightly low when proportioned against the other payoffs.

“We are looking at all the possible angles,” McErlean said. “We have the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau doing some tote investigation as well, just as a precaution to see if there are any unusual betting patterns.”

Ruby Queen’s best lifetime placing had been a second-place finish at Arlington Park in 2014. In four starts this year at Thistledown, she had been beaten a total of 86 lengths. The bay 3-year-old had earned a Beyer Speed Figure of zero in four of her previous five starts. @thorntontd