Parx trainer John Servis concerned over allegations of foal play

JOHN SERVIS was notified in early May that one of the horses he trains at Parx Racing came back positive for the prohibited medication Clenbuterol. Horses can train with it legally, but not race with it still in their systems. Typically, 2 weeks is enough withdrawal time.

Hearty Jones had, in fact, been given Clenbuterol, but it was more than 2 weeks prior to her April 4 win. The medication acts as a bronchodilator and helps build muscle. Servis was told a minute amount was found in the test and he thought it might end up being nothing.

When Servis was informed shortly thereafter that another of his horses had tested positive for Clenbuterol, he started "to panic." Someday Jones, who finished second in an April 16 race, had a very short regimen of Clenbuterol, according to Servis. When he got word Friday that Miss Inclusive, winner of the $100,000 Parx Oaks on May 7 and a horse Servis said was not given any Clenbuterol, had tested positive for the drug, Servis got "scared."

The trainer of 2004 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones and 2016 Kentucky Oaks winner Cathryn Sophia has won 1,511 races in a distinguished career with almost no history of drug positives.

"I want it out there," Servis said. "I don't want it to look like I'm hiding anything."

Servis has asked Joe Wilson, Parx's chief operating officer, for security at his barn. The racing commission has not announced the positives yet because Servis has not gotten a hearing on the matters. The trainer did not want to wait.

"I'm embarrassed," Servis said. "This isn't me."

Main Line Stable owns all or part of the three horses. The stable's majority owner, Dr. Lou Bucky, is not happy with the possibility of losing the purses, the hit to his trainer's reputation or Parx itself.

"I've known John forever," Bucky said. "John's been using Clenbuterol since 2001. He's had one positive in 2003 or something that was a $200 fine . . . It was a micro amount. I'm 100 percent convinced this isn't Servis being not careful with Clenbuterol or using more or anything else.

"I'm also 100 percent convinced Parx is not providing the security. There are a series of possibilities, but I don't think that it is in Main Line's best interest to let this go away and be blamed on the trainer."

Servis pointed out that he runs horses all over the country, but is only having this issue at his home track. He does not know why this has happened, but attorney Alan Pincus has a theory.

Pincus is the lawyer for Ramon Preciado, who dominated the Parx training standings for the last 2 years. The trainer got four Clenbuterol positives last year, the first two resulting in fines, the next two in a suspension. Pincus told Preciado not to use Clenbuterol anymore because "any more positives are going to start to be fatal."

Preciado stopped using it, according to Pincus. Preciado then got two more positives last year resulting in a 270-day suspension and an ejection from Parx earlier this year. The trainer then got six more Clenbuterol positives for horses that ran at Parx in March and April. Preciado, with a depleted stable, is back at the track after Pincus went to federal court to get a stay. His ejection hearing is July 1.

"I think it's sabotage," said Pincus who pointed out Preciado would have to be crazy to use a drug over and over again that would effectively end his career if detected. "Nobody is that stupid."

Pincus thinks somebody with nefarious motives injected the drug into Preciado's horses close to race day and wonders if the same thing has not happened to Servis.

"Is it a copycat person seeing how easy it is?" Pincus said. "Is it someone who's a competitor paying someone to do it? It's every trainer's worst nightmare."

Securing a racetrack from somebody intent on doing harm is no easy task. Wilson has talked to Servis and understands his concerns.

"It's just too early in the process for me to comment," Wilson said. "The commission has to do their thing."

Bucky wants the track to get involved.

"They need to assume responsibility in this," he said. "They need to understand with all these positives going on, this is more than a trainer issue, it's a racetrack issue . . . It's our job to put the pressure on Parx and the racing commission."

Clenbuterol, which is used to treat asthma in humans, is classified as a Class 3 drug in horse racing, with Class 1 being the most powerful and Class 5 the least.

More than a few Preciado horses have shown dramatic improvement in recent years, leading to widespread speculation.

"There's a tremendous resentment against him," Pincus said. "He's just too successful. He's just doing too good. He's improving horses in a way that can't be done, but I'm telling you it's not from Clenbuterol. They want to use this as an excuse to get rid of him. There's no sympathy for him."

Servis, obviously, is a different case. He wins his share, but has not won in overwhelming numbers or under suspicious circumstances. However, he is now caught up in the Clenbuterol positive epidemic.

On the day she won, Hearty Jones improved a bit, but also ran with the legal medication Lasix for the first time and in a three-horse field. Someday Jones ran about to the form he has shown in his other races. Miss Inclusive did make a big jump in her Parx Oaks win.

"Her first race was really good," Servis said of the filly's debut last November. But she did not come back to the form at Oaklawn Park earlier this year. In her first 2016 race at Parx, Miss Inclusive ran with blinkers for the first time and won. Then, with blinkers again, she won the Parx Oaks in the best race of her career.

"She's running Wednesday in a stake at Delaware and she's doing fantastic," Servis said. "She should run really well."

That Oaks purse, however, is now in peril, pending a hearing.

Bucky wanted to make the point that the Clenbuterol level was incredibly high in Miss Inclusive and Someday Jones.

"That would indicate that a huge amount was given on race day, something that no logical person would ever think an appropriate thing to do because there was no way it was going to not be caught," Bucky said.

Unless Bucky, Pincus, Servis and possibly others can convince the track and/or the racing commission that this is a bigger issue than just the trainers, it is, by rule, on the trainers.

"Unfortunately, it's pretty cut and dry because the trainer has complete responsibility, whether you're around, you're not around, it doesn't make any difference," Servis said.

Pincus can cite the Trainer Absolute Insurer rule by heart.

"If there is a substance in your horse, the burden of proof shifts over to you to prove you weren't negligent in letting it get in there, which is a very tough burden," Pincus said.

Indeed it is. And John Servis is living with that burden at the moment.

@DickJerardi