Most of you probably remember the red-hot meet that that Shuman and Gill had at Gulfstream in 2003. You also probably remember the infamous euthanized horse from which Gill had his own vet remove a leg before the track vet could draw fluid from the joint for testing.
Well, here are some snippets from a summary of recent legal proceedings. Sorry about the long message but most of you probably do not want to wade through a entire legal document to get to the good stuff (here is the link in case you do - http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=1st&navby=case&no=041944 ).
Admittedly, not much of this has been proven but there is some supporting evidence indicated. The scary (but not surprising) thing is that here is one guy who was using just about everything that has been in the news recently:
1) Milkshakes (he appears to have been caught \"in the act\" despite posting lookouts)
2) EPO or something similar to increase oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood
3) Injecting illegal painkillers into sore joints (led to the missing leg cover up)
4) \"Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy\" (ESWT)
The only thing missing is snail venom and who is to say that this is all that he was using.
Again, I admit that some of this is only accusation but it certainly paints an ugly picture about a guy who was a serious candidate for an Eclipse Award this year.
I would say that Gill and Mullins are running neck and neck right now for the honor of being the \"Poster Child\" for what\'s wrong with racing today.
Not surprisingly, about 3 out of every 4 \"idiots\" that responded to a recent DRF survey would like to see 24-hour pre-race receiving barns for all races.
Chris
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Excerpts from the link:
In January 2003, TRPB began to investigate plaintiff Michael J. Gill, an owner of thoroughbred race horses, and Gill\'s horse trainer and veterinarians. At that time, Gill\'s horses were winning a high percentage of races at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida, owned by Gulfstream Park Racing Association, Inc. In early January, an unnamed, confidential tipster had alerted Anthony Otero, an investigator with TRPB, of \"suspicious\" activity at the barn of Gill\'s trainer, specifically that \"stable employees were being posted at the barn as lookouts during pre-race medication time.\" Otero also spoke with other unnamed, confidential tipsters (Gill claims that there were in total three separate tipsters), who told of other suspicious activities involving Gill\'s horses at Gulfstream and its satellite training facility. For example, the tipsters told TRPB that Gill\'s horses were being shipped to a nearby trotting center where they received \"Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy\" (ESWT) \"four days out\" from a race; Gulfstream\'s 2003 rules made a horse receiving ESWT treatment ineligible to start in a race until more than seven days post-treatment have elapsed. The tipsters also said that one of Gill\'s veterinarians was \"blocking the joints\" of Gill\'s horses on race day with a pain killer. Further, the tipsters told Otero that on race days, Gill\'s trainer administered to the horses a \"hormone that stimulates and regulates red blood cell production thus infusing a system with a richer supply of oxygen.\" After receiving this information, Gulfstream\'s track veterinarian decided that if any of Gill\'s horses had to be euthanized following injury, fluids should be drawn from the joints for testing and a necropsy performed.
On February 3, 2003, one of Gill\'s horses, \"Casual Conflict,\" injured its right front leg during a race and had to be euthanized. The injured part of the horse\'s right front leg was amputated and was oddly missing by the time Gulfstream\'s track veterinarian arrived to draw fluids from it for testing. The missing right front leg was later retrieved from one of Gill\'s veterinarians, who admitted to having removed it without permission.
On February 5, the FDPMW chief investigator contacted Otero and other TRPB personnel to advise them that the agency was taking over the investigation into the horse\'s death. The FDPMW taped interviews of Gill, his trainer, and veterinarians. Otero was present during most of these interviews. At least three conflicting explanations were given by the interviewees for why the leg of the horse was removed. FDPMW investigators then took some leg tissue from the horse for testing. The testers could not draw joint fluid for testing, but the other tests revealed no banned substances.
(\"Blocking the joints\" means injecting (illegal) pain killer medication into the horses\' leg joints to enable them to run faster.)
The Investigative Report did contain evidence that Gill\'s barn was involved in administering an illegal \"milkshake\" to one of Gill\'s horses. An illegal \"milkshake\" \"masks the buildup of lactic acids in a horse causing the animal to run even though it is very tired.\" The Report also concluded that Gill\'s grooms acted as lookouts and tried to misdirect the investigator away from the scene of possible illegal activity. The Report further observed that the equine clinic close to the training facility for Gill\'s horses offered ESWT among other therapeutic treatments, and that the veterinarian who administered these treatments was not licensed by FDPMW and was not under regulatory oversight; however, the Report did not contain any confirmed instance of Gill\'s horses being transported to the clinic to receive ESWT during the surveillance period from February 5 to February 17, 2003. The Report noted that Gill\'s trainer and veterinarians had previously been the subjects of other TRPB investigations and had been fined or suspended for periods of time for illegal horse racing practices.
Derby, thanks for the obvious effort in presenting this so effectively. It\'s a silly thing to fuss about I suppose, but it galls me that after he has cheated all of us through the use of illegal meds, denied us the opportunity to handicap, increased our costs and decreased our net winnings, he will now drain our tax coffers by pursueing every legal avenue of appeal,if convicted. Oh well, I\'m just another \"gill-able idiot.\"
I continue to advocate for a new award at the annual banquet; a \"Jeffy\" for the biggest juicer caught each year. raz