Stewards Suspend Roman Chapa

by T.D. Thornton 
Roman Chapa, a top Texas-based jockey who has been suspended twice before for carrying an illegal electrical device during a race, was removed from his mounts on Monday at Sam Houston Race Park while stewards launched an investigation into whether he used a similar “battery” or “buzzer” while winning a stakes race on Saturday night. 
Sam Houston stewards were apparently alerted to the possibility that Chapa might have carried an electrical stimulator after being shown a blown-up photograph of the stretch run of the $50,000 Richard King S. 

While riding 10-1 shot Quiet Acceleration to a half-length victory, what appears to be a tan, palm-sized device with protruding prongs can be seen in Chapa’s partially closed left hand where the underside of his fist meets the reins. 
Jack Coady, the Sam Houston track photographer, confirmed that he captured the image, but said he has been asked by track officials not to disclose how the shot came to the attention of the stewards. 

“It is a shot that I took, and it was from the inside rail position. It’s the normal shot that I try to get for stakes races,” Coady said. 

By Monday morning, copies of the photograph depicting the area of detail and the alleged buzzer were circulating both online and via social media. 

Jamie Nielson, a Sam Houston spokesperson, confirmed that Chapa had been “summarily suspended” pending the results of the investigation, which is now in the hands of the Texas Racing Commission. 

Chapa, who won with five mounts on Friday and Saturday nights, the first two programs of the 2015 Sam Houston meet, did not return a voicemail message from the TDN asking for his side of the story. His agent, Toby Cathey, also did not return a message requesting comment. 

According a story in the Paulick Report, Chapa was suspended 19 months in Texas in 1993 for carrying an electrical device. In 2007, he was suspended five years by New Mexico officials for the same offense, but was granted a probationary license to return to riding in 2011. 

Chapa’s name surfaced in 2014 in surreptitiously recorded conversations distributed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that alleged animal abuses by trainer Steve Asmussen and his assistant, Scott Blasi. In one of the recordings, Blasi can be allegedly heard describing how Chapa was known to hide a buzzer in his mouth. 

For decades, outlawed electrical devices have been abused by jockeys under the assumption that a jolt of electricity will frighten a horse into running faster. 

Anecdotal evidence suggests that instead of enhancing performance, a shock from a battery can instead cause a horse to bolt uncontrollably, sometimes through the inner rail if used during the stretch run of a race. 

Purportedly, more subtle signs that indicate the use of electrical stimulation can include a horse suddenly swishing its tail up and down or a jockey who does not switch the whip from hand to hand (for fear of the device being seen or dropped).
Although the use of buzzers is generally associated with lower-level racing, there have been several prominent cases in the past 25 years involving major stakes races. 

The improbable win by maiden Valhol in the 1999 Arkansas Derby resulted in a five-year suspension for jockey Billy Patin after a video showed him dropping an electrical item that was later recovered. 

In 2003, jockey Jose Santos faced accusations of cheating after the Miami Herald published a blurry photograph and a story that alleged he might have concealed something in his hand while winning the GI Kentucky Derby aboard Funny Cide. 

The photograph was subsequently determined to contain nothing more than an optical illusion made by the silks of a trailing horse, and in 2008 Santos reached an out-of-court settlement with the Herald on a $48-million libel lawsuit.