Castillo Cleared, Another Implicated at Parx

Slightly more than two weeks after jockey Angel Castillo was accused to be in possession of an illegal electrical device and his removal from his mounts at Parx Racing, stewards at the Bensalem oval have issued a ruling revoking the license of jockey Pierre Hernandez-Ortega for a similar offense. 

Castillo was abruptly scratched from the remainder of his rides following the fourth race at Parx Tuesday, May 12, and was escorted off the premises after Walter Remmert, the acting executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission said that Castillo was in possession of the device, commonly referred to as a buzzer. One day later, Castillo's attorney Alan Pincus told the TDN that he and his client “categorially deny having anything to do with an electronic device” and that track officials “have gotten the wrong guy.” Castillo was subsequently granted a stay of further action by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission and had been riding regularly at Parx since. Ortega-Hernandez was implicated for his ride aboard the second-placed Calvello in the fifth race that Tuesday afternoon. 

The statement from the stewards read, “Based upon the uncontroverted evidence presented at the stewards' hearing, Mr. Hernandez-Ortega is found to be in violation of the commission's regulation (regarding prohibited items). Mr. Hernandez-Ortega's possession of the device and subsequent deceptive actions to conceal the possession are equivalent to an attempt to fix the outcome of the fifth race at Parx on May 12, 2015. … Based upon the results of its investigation and the evidence presented at the stewards hearing, the stewards hereby REVOKE all licenses presently held by Pierre Hernandez-Ortega issued by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission.” 

Reached by the TDN Saturday, Pincus is at this point eager to have his client's reputation and image restored. 
“There were previous comments attributed to Mr. Remmert and we would await his public retraction of those comments to set the record straight and repair the reputation of Mr. Castillo,” Pincus commented.