Jason Servis

Trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis entered not guilty pleas to the charges of drug alteration and misbranding during an arraignment Thursday before United States District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil. Due to the coronavirus, the arraignment was held via teleconference. Servis and Navarro were among 17 individuals arraigned Thursday for their alleged roles in a horse doping scandal. All 17 pleaded not guilty. The not guilty pleas were not a surprise as it is rare for defendants in a criminal case to plead guilty at the arraignment phase. Navarro has...

The shock announcement of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York's indictments against a slew of Thoroughbred veterinarians and trainers—and to a much lesser extent the California Horse Racing Board's (CHRB) long-awaited report into the equine fatalities at Santa Anita early last year—cast a kaleidoscopic shadow of speculation and questions marks over the industry. But one of the most salient takeaways from these two developments is surely this: What kind of investigative infrastructure is in place within the sport to catch the cheats and protect the...

The federal judge in charge of the alleged racehorse doping case involving trainers Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis, and 18 other defendants has set Apr. 2 as the new arraignment date. Court closures related to COVID-19 have already caused two postponements of the arraignment since Mar 23. In an effort to avoid another delay, the judge has ordered this Thursday's arraignment to be conducted via conference call. United States District Court (Southern District of New York) Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil also wrote in the Mar. 27 order that the missed time...

Owner Gary West released a report Saturday from Dr. Larry Bramlage, whom he commissioned to examine Maximum Security (New Year's Day) "from hoof to tail." Bramlage did not find any major problems with the horse but did recommend that he be given a break from training to overcome some problems he was having with minor bruising and inflammation in all four limbs. West called on Bramlage to examine last year's 3-year-old male champion after his trainer, Jason Servis, was among 27 individuals indicted after an FBI investigation into horse doping....

An investigation by the Asbury Park Press has revealed that 19 horses trained by either Jorge Navarro or Jason Servis have died at Monmouth Park since 2010. Servis and Navarro were among 27 people indicted last week by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York after an investigation into horse doping. Twelve of the dead horses were trained by Navarro and seven by Servis. According to the Press, the 12 deaths out of the Navarro barn since 2012 are the most at Monmouth by any trainer...

Choosing not to comment last week as the horse racing world responded en masse to the bombshell announcement of indictments against 27 figures in the sport, including high-profile trainers Jorge Navarro and Jason Servis, Darby Development CEO and Monmouth Park Operator Dennis Drazin has weighed in with a lengthy statement that was released Monday, shortly after Monmouth announced it will close and push back the start of its racing meet due to coronavirus concerns. The statement reads in part, "First and foremost, Monmouth Park and Darby Development, as well as...

Florida-based trainer Alfredo Lichoa is among five people who have been arrested afer a money-laundering investigation that was conducted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the same agency that has indicted 27 people as part of a horse-doping ring. Lichoa and the others were arrested Mar. 9, the same day the FBI rounded up Jason Servis, Jorge Navarro and 25 others indicted for their alleged role in treating racehorses with performance-enhancing drugs. The money-laundering story was first reported by Paulick Report. Lichoa, a native of...

The Week in Review They have come at us one by one, saying they are shocked, they are disgusted, they love the animal, they love the sport and they had no idea they had been employing drug cheats. That's what we have heard from the owners who employed Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro and have spoken up in the aftermath of indictments that are not only shocking but threaten to do severe and irreparable damage to the sport. How could an owner employ someone who performed training feats that were,...

Admitting that the charges that trainer Jason Servis drugged Maximum Security (New Year's Day) threaten the integrity of Thoroughbred racing, his owner, Gary West, has announced that he has hired veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage to examine the horse "from hoof to tail." When asked by the TDN in a follow-up email that if further testing revealed that Maximum Security had illegal drugs in his systems in any races if he would advocate that the horse be disqualified, he replied: "I am not an authority on medications and SGF-1000 (the drug...

Even as rival owners of horses that finished behind Maximum Security (New Year's Day) are threatening legal action to get the allegedly doped 3-year-old champ disqualified from previous wins, Gary and Mary West are forging ahead with their 10-month federal court odyssey to overturn the controversial GI Kentucky Derby stewards' in-race interference DQ that stripped their colt of the honor, prestige and prize money of America's most important horse race. "But for the stewards' nonfeasance and misfeasance, Maximum Security would have been declared the official winner, and Plaintiffs would have...

All horses who were under the custody of trainers named in the federal indictment earlier this week will undergo a mandatory minimum of a 60-day stand-down period and are prohibited from racing at any Stronach Group racing facility during that time, The Stronach Group announced Thursday. "Our goal is to keep these horses safe and from competing if there is any possibility that they may have performance- enhancing drugs in their system," said Dr. Dionne Benson, Chief Veterinarian, The Stronach Group. "This is being done, not only to first and...

What an awful way to start the week. Sandwiched between a chaotic stock market and the spread of coronavirus, the racing industry got word Monday of a tawdry racehorse doping scandal that came packaged in four indictments against 27 defendants. These schemes were replete with instances of gutter-level language from wire taps that painted the treatment of some of these horses as nothing more than disposable money-making commodities. The 27 individuals included some trainers and veterinarians. They were charged by the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New...