By Jessica Martini
Masochistic (Sought After) will be disqualified from his runner-up effort in the Nov. 5 GI Breeders' Cup Sprint after testing positive for small amounts of the legal steroid stanozolol, trainer Ron Ellis confirmed Monday evening.
“The medication was administered on the recommendation of my veterinarian for the therapeutic purposes of recovering from bleeding and weight loss stemming from his Aug. 27 race at Del Mar,” Ellis said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the medication that was given intramuscular 68 days before the Breeders' Cup lingered in his system. No sinister purpose was involved as the injection was given outside of the recommended 60-day guidelines and registered with the state as required.”
Owned by Los Pollos Hermanos Racing and Jay Em Ess Stable, Masochistic finished second behind Drefong (Gio Ponti) in the Sprint. He captured the GII Pat O'Brien H. at Del Mar Aug. 27. The 6-year-old gelding also won last year's GI Triple Bend S. and GII Kona Gold S.
According to Ellis, Masochistic was tested three times as part of out-of-competition testing done on all Breeders' Cup runners.
“The last of those tests, taken eight days prior to the race, showed there were still some picogram amounts of the drug in his system,” Ellis explained. “I was informed by the Equine Medical Director three days before the race that he was concerned there was a chance of a positive test on race day. We tried to run another test on him, but couldn't find a lab that could test to such low levels in time. So after conferring with top veterinarians and considering picograms are a trillionth of a gram and that he had eight days to clear such a small amount, it was decided Masochistic would “most likely” come out with a clear test.”
The post-Breeders' Cup testing done at the University of California at Davis, showed less than 200 picograms of the steroid. That result was confirmed by split sample testing done at Industrial Laboratory Dec. 16.
The California Horse Racing Board has scheduled a Dec. 30 hearing with the Santa Anita stewards to disqualify Masochistic and redistribute his $255,000 share of the Sprint purse.
“I have always played this game by the ruIes and we did that in this instance,” Ellis continued. “I am very proud of my medication history, which includes no suspensions in 35 years of training and only one minor infraction, a high Banamine, in the last 10 years. I apologize to the Breeders' Cup and the racing industry for this unfortunate event. I understand and respect the ramifications of CHRB regulations and trust I will be treated fairly under the circumstances.”
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