[ranchwest]

I do recall two stories from DED that were reported in the news.

First, the "fog jockey incident". DED was a 6f track, with a mile race starting from a chute on the front side. Sylvester Carmouche was riding in the last race of the night, always a very low caliber race at DED. I believe it was a $1500 claimer, maybe $2000. Carmouche rode his horse to the end of the chute and parked it in the fog, waiting for the other horses to come around the track. When he heard the other horses in the fog, he took off. He won by something like 26 lengths and set a new track record. The track competition was on the decline, so setting a track record was a big deal. Of course, this immediately raised suspicion and after a lot of questioning, the pieces somewhat fell into place, but Carmouche would not admit what happened. Because the purse was so low, he could not be charged with a felony. Without a felony, the racing commission had limited recourse. But, they could give him repeated short-term suspensions until finally Carmouche came clean after several years. That meant he could be charged with a felony for lying to the commission. So, they then served him with a long-term suspension. I think he was finally reinstated after something like 5 years.

In another case, about 26 trainers were suspended for doping. After a lot of back and forth, the trainers requested that the tests be re-examined. It was found that the urine contained nicotine and caffeine. Since it was unlikely that the horses were smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee, all of the suspensions were voided.

That's just a small sample.