In the News: ‘Trainer whose employee had vodka-filled syringe in horse’s stall seeks license’

They were seriously going to shoot a racehorse up with vodka? Fail. From the Courier Journal…

The trainer, Jeffery Scott Raley, finished a three-year suspension in March after having been sanctioned twice in 2010.

According to the Courier Journal:

On March 7, 2010, Raley was suspended for one year after his employee was found on Feb. 28, 2010, holding a syringe with vodka in the receiving barn stall of Raley’s horse, Spontaneous Diva. The stewards ruling said the employee was found with the syringe and hypodermic needle ‘in the presence of Mr. Raley.’ The horse was scratched. Raley also was ordered to appear before the licensing committee before being given a new Kentucky license.’

On March 14 of the same year, Raley was fined $100 for employing an unlicensed person on Feb. 28.

On July 4, 2010, Raley received a suspension of two additional years — taking it to March 17, 2013 — for running Spontaneous Diva and Forest Land at Churchill Downs in May 2010 while under suspension. The stewards’ ruling says Raley was training the horses at an Oldham County training center and entered them under the name of trainer Joseph C. Landry, ‘who had not participated, in any manner, in the care, supervision or entry of the’ horses.”

Yeah, I’m not sure that guy deserves to get his license back.

At any rate, he’s set to appear today before the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s License Review Committee, along with three other cases, the most high-profile of which involves Rodolfo “Rudy” Rodriguez. Rodriguez is the trainer of Vyjack, a Kentucky Derby contender. He recently served a 20-day medication-related suspension in New York and was fined $7,500 after the drug flunixin, an anti-inflammatory painkiller, was found in post-race samples from two of his horses last year at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Today’s meeting, the last before the Derby, will determine whether or not he is eligible to participate as a trainer in the race.