Alert!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Trainer Suspended for Altering Paperwork of Ineligible Winning Horse

According to a story in the Daily Racing Form:

Trainer Paul Aguirre has been fined $2,000 and suspended five days in a stipulated agreement with the California Horse Racing Board after admitting to altering the registration papers of a horse who won a race in which he was not eligible last summer.

Read more at the link.

This story is about the integrity of the game.

First we have a trainer who enters a horse into a race at Hollywood Park that the horse isn’t eligible for. To make matters worse, the horse wins that race at odds of more than 27 to 1.

But things didn’t end there. The trainer admitted to going into the racing office afterwards and altering the horse’s papers to make it look like the horse was eligible for the race in question.

The CHRB is the regulatory body in California entrusted with protecting the interests of the wagering public. The CHRB is responsible for ensuring that racing as a gambling game is conducted with honesty and integrity. The CHRB is also responsible for handing out appropriate punishment when people who break the rules are caught.

Eight months after the incident occurred: The CHRB fined the offending trainer $2000 and suspended him a grand total of 5 days.

We at HANA are left scratching our heads. Do principles such as honesty and integrity still exist in racing? (Did they ever exist at all?) Is there some hidden facet to this story that hasn’t come out yet – something that is being kept out of the press?

We at HANA invite you to take a short survey. We'd like to know what you think.

Link to survey:


Jeff Platt
President, HANA

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

How does doctoring a horse's papers not result in jail time?

As a bettor I want the CHRB actively engaged in the "protecting the interests of the wagering public" part of its mission statement.

The last thing we need are commissioners who through their own actions actively encourage dishonest behavior by handing out punishments that are little more than a "slap on the wrist."

No better example of what's wrong with racing (and the CHRB) than this incident!

greg said...

Turf Paradise has an odd mdn condition, it's a MDN OPTIONAL $30k, so some horses are in for the $30k and some are not, this horse won and was NOT in for a tag, well the racing office some how saw the condition as MOC30, (Maiden Opt. Claiming $30k) and misread the condition as a mdn $30k, thus he ran, Paul went into the racing office the NEXT day and wrote $30,000 somewhere as if the horse had been in for the tag. I know Paul well and have NO idea why he did it, it would have been easier to say that he misread it as well thus he and the racing office are BOTH liable, but he didn't. In my opinion, what he did was FRAUD period, no extenuating circumstances because it was AFTER the race to cover up a mistake. Did he enter knowing and hoping it didn't get caught, maybe, I don't know, but the wrist slap is another example of how the CHRB has no balls

Anonymous said...

ARE THESE GUYS EX CONGRESSMAN ?

Anonymous said...

Apparently, catching the crooks and kicking them out is not very high on the priority list.

Anonymous said...

like frank monteleone he must be a secret agent for the chrb

Anonymous said...

like frank monteleone he must be a secret agent for the chrb