RMTC
Indiana commission to consider agreement suspending trainer for four years
By: Matt Hegarty
Ron Raper, a Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred trainer based at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, will be suspended four years and fined $20,000 for admitting to numerous medication violations under a settlement agreement reached with the Indiana Horse Racing Commission.
The agreement, which is being considered by the full commission at a meeting this morning, was reached after Raper admitted to administering substances to Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds on raceday during an investigation last year of the Indiana-based veterinarian Ross Russell. Under the agreement, four Quarter Horses trained by Raper will be disqualified from races last summer at Indiana Grand, along with one Thoroughbred.
Last year, the commission released a report recommending that Russell be suspended 20 years for providing trainers with medications that were to be administered on raceday. Raper told IHRC investigators during the probe that Russell provided him with at least 30 doses of adrenocorticotropic hormone, or ACTH, a naturally occurring substance that would likely have little effect on a horse but is nonetheless illegal for a trainer to possess or to administer on raceday.
Russell’s veterinary records showed that he billed Raper for 23 bottles of ACTH during the scope of the investigation.
Full story to be posted after the commission meeting on DRF.com.
