By: Ray Paulick
Georgina Baxter has won three races, with two seconds and two third-place finishes from 16 starts since taking over the Ralph Ziadie stable in early July.
Ziadie, a leading trainer in South Florida in recent years, was denied a renewal of his license by the state’s Department of Business & Professional Regulation’s Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, which in a June 29 letter cited 10 medication violations from October 2012 to May 2014 and six outstanding violations since December 30, 2017.
Ziadie is the father of trainer Kirk Ziadie, who won numerous training titles in South Florida but was denied a license renewal by the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering in July 2015 and later suspended for six years for multiple medication violations. The elder Ziadie, who moved to Florida from Jamaica in the 1970s, has been training since 1980, according to Equibase, and has won 1,544 races from 9,931 starts for earnings of $31.6 million. Since Kirk Ziadie was suspended, Ralph Ziadie has finished as high as second in the trainer standings at Gulfstream Park West (formerly Calder Race Course) and was one win shy of tying for the training title during this year’s spring meeting at Gulfstream Park when he won 16 races, with 10 seconds and two thirds from 52 starts.
The 10 adjudicated cases against Ralph Ziadie from 2012 to 2014 were for Class 3 and Class 4 medications clenbuterol and phenylbutazone, respectively, plus one Class 2 violation for o-desmethyltramadrol.
The six outstanding cases against Ralph Ziadie for alleged Class 3 and Class 4 violations are:
–Mr. Baker, winner of fourth race at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 30, 2017, overages of flunixin and phenylbutazone.
–Pay Any Price, winner of eighth race at Tampa Bay Downs on Dec. 30, 2017, overage of furosemide.
–R Limo Joe, winner of third race at Gulfstream Park on March 9, 2018, overages of a metabolite of dantrolene and clenbuterol.
–Players Luck, runner-up in third race at Gulfstream Park on April 27, 2018, overage of metabolite of dantrolene.
–Pay Any Price, winner of first race at Gulfstream Park on May 4, 2018, overage of flunixin and phenylbutazone.
–Wild Chatter, winner of sixth race at Gulfstream Park on May 10, 2018, metabolite of dantrolene.
The Ziadie stables (and now Baxter’s) have been based at Gulfstream Park West, which Gulfstream Park owner The Stronach Group leases from Churchill Downs, Inc.
Ziadie has requested a hearing on the matter, but no date has been set.
Baxter is a former exercise rider whose first start as a licensed trainer came on July 5, when she saddled three former Ralph Ziadie horses, including her first winner, Starship Wildcat.
