By: Matt Hegarty
Jorge Navarro, the trainer who has been dogged by controversy for the past several years, has agreed not to enter any horses at Delaware Park for the remainder of the track’s meet this year, the state racing commission’s top official said Wednesday.
John Wayne, the administrator for racing for the Delaware State Racing Commission, said Navarro agreed to the proposal during a sit-down interview at the commission’s offices Wednesday morning.
Wayne had asked Navarro to meet with him following a ban issued by the racing commission several weeks ago. Wayne said that the two also agreed to meet next year before the start of Delaware’s 2018 meet to “revisit” the ban based on his record over the next six months.
“We agreed that if he has no serious violations over that time, he can come back here and we can talk,” Wayne, a former racing investigator said. “I know we’re a small jurisdiction, but we are concerned about our reputation here.”
The racing commission issued the ban based on fines levied by stewards at Monmouth Park after a video was posted to a social-media site showing Navarro and an owner in a public area of Monmouth using foul language that was suggestive of illegal drug use while rooting on a horse trained by Navarro’s brother at Gulfstream Park. The video eventually led the New Jersey Racing Commission to fine Navarro $10,000.
Navarro, who is based in the mid-Atlantic and typically ships horses to tracks throughout the Eastern Seaboard, has publicly apologized for his behavior on the video.
Delaware Park has 11 live racing dates left in its 2018 meet. The track typically opens in early June for approximately 80 days of live racing a year.
