Press Release:
The California Horse Racing Board this week filed a formal complaint against trainer William Morey alleging that his assistant trainer administered a substance containing an alkalinizing agent via a dose syringe to two horses that were entered in a race at Santa Anita Park.
The incident occurred on March 29, the same day racing resumed in Arcadia, Calif., under stricter medication rules following a rash of breakdowns that brought Santa Anita under a national spotlight.
Based on the information, the stewards at Santa Anita scratched all three Morey horses in the only action initiated by the CHRB thus far. Other horses entered by Morey that weekend at Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields were also scratched.
Morey, who has won 10 races with 56 starters at Santa Anita — 27 wins in 123 starts in 2019 — has two career graded stakes wins. But after the March 29 incident, according to the Daily Racing Form, his stable dispersed, with some horses going to other trainers at Santa Anita.
The stewards at Santa Anita will conduct a hearing May 2.
Morey came up in racing under his father, also named William Morey, taking out his trainers license in 2001.
