3 minute read

The matter in which trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro have been indicted has been back before the court.

In March 2020 the trainers, Vet Kristian Rhein (now suspended) and others were arrested on charges of conspiring to drug racehorses under their control.  It was alleged that the Defendants, over the course of several years, customized Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs), mislabelled them to avoid scrutiny by drug regulators, administered them without FDA authorization, without prescriptions, and were made to be undetectable in routine drug tests.

On July 30 2021 Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the Southern District Court of New York denied motions to dismiss these charges.  One of the motions to dismiss had claimed that the Indictment did not specifically allege any proper "victim" while not denying any of the activities mentioned.  A drug adulteration and misbranding constitutes a felony if the intent is to defraud or mislead.

In each count of the Indictment the Defendants were charged with participating in a conspiracy to commit a felony by drug adulteration and misbranding.

On August 3 the Vet Kristian Rhein pleaded guilty to one count of drug alteration and implicated Servis.

On August 11 Navarro changed his plea to guilty.

On August 3 Servis and others filed to get wiretapping calls thrown out as evidence, and on September 2 the Federal Prosecutor filed papers to support the allowing of wiretaps, a document of some 155 pages.  Some of the calls reveal some very disturbing information.

On March 3 2020 Navarro and now banned trainer Michael Tannuzzo discussed provision of a doping program similar to that used on XY Jet.  XY Jet had come to Navarro late in 2014 and went on to win over $3 million in prize money including the Golden Shaheen at Dubai.  Navarro had admitted giving the horse "monkey" (Epogen which can lead to cardiac issues) and in January 2020 XY Jet died of an alleged heart attack.

On March 5 2020 Navarro and Servis discuss the use of "SGF" with Navarro claiming he had 12 horses on it.  Servis also asked about irregular Clenbuterol.

June 5 2020 Servis was talking to Rhein as he was concerned with the testing the authorities were doing on Maximim Security.  Rhein reassured him that SGF "doesn't even test close" and that Grand Prix and Olympic Horses were also on it and they had to pass much tougher testing regimes.  Servis asked if it could be put on the bill as Dax (dexamethasone) and Rhein said he sometimes put it down as acupuncture as he had a degree in advanced acupuncture.

So far Servis has not changed his plea of not guilty.