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Racing commission wants to pass scandaALBUQUERQUE (AP) — The state Racing Commission says its goal this year is to move past the horse-drugging issue and bring together the disparate groups that make up the $150-million-a-year horse racing industry in New Mexico.The commissioners said they want to improve horse racing in the state now that its economic vitality is expected to be tested by the prospect of racing beginning this year in Texas.“Our attitude now is ‘let’s get away from the prosecuting end of racing and get into the business end ofit,’’’ said Commissioner Duke Thornton of Albuquerque.The commission’s new approach stresses cooperation over controversy.Gov. Garrey Carruthers appointed a new commission when he took office two years ago and told it to clean up the sport, in particular stem the use of stimulants and other drugs on racehorses.The commission stepped up drug invesh^^.,0, improved drug-testing techniques and handed outdozens of suspensions to trainers during 1987 and 1988. 6In previous years a handful of horsemen had been accused of using illegal drugs. The commission’s new-testing program yielded more than 70 positive tests for drugs during 1987 and 1988.The 49 suspensions prompted a yearlong legal battle by the trainers, who alleged New Mexico’s use of an out-of-state testing laboratory was illegal. The state last summer successfully appealed the case to the state Supreme Court, but attorneys for the horsemen said they would not give up.The commission last month annnnnnpH it haaagreed to reduce the punishments of 21 of thesuspended horsemen by giving them probation instead, and the settlement has been offered to other suspended trainers.The settlement came weeks after Carruthers named the commission chairman, Harris Hartz of Albuquerque, to the state Court of Appeals and recommended Commissioner Dan Myers, also of Albuquerque, as the new chairman. The settlement took shapeunder Myers.Hartz, the most outspoken critic of drug abuse in racing, and William Meincke, the commission executive secretary who has since taken a similar job in Texas, received considerable criticism from people who opposed the commission’s methods, such as the New Mexico Horsemen’s Association.Commissioners said they agreed to the settlement with the suspended trainers because the drugging issue was taking up too much time and was making the drug problem appear worse than it is.“It had dragged on for a year and a half,” saidCommissioner Jack Cole of Farmington. “There’s noquestion about the fact that it hurt the industry in terms of its image.”Gerald Marr, president of the Horsemen’s Association, said the trainers had been penalized enough. But others said the commission was backing down. “The fear is that this is going to send a message:‘It’s OK to get caught and punished for a little while, then get off the hook,” said Mike Creusere, president of Fans of Racing, an Albuquerque-based group.Carruthers said he had “restrained enthusiasm” for the settlement.
Newspaper Details
Alamogordo Daily News
Alamogordo, New Mexico, US
Mon, Jan 09, 1989
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Michael C.
NA, 13 Jan 2023
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