Assiniboia Downs trainer’s case enters homestretch By: Mike McIntyre Posted: 6:48 PM CDT Friday, Aug. 9, 2024

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This article was published 09/08/2024 (769 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Hall of Fame horseman accused of serious wrongdoing is now locked in a hotly-contested legal battle with Manitoba’s racing regulator which recently lowered the boom on him.

As this unprecedented dispute heads down the home stretch, a photo finish is going to be required.

Expect fireworks on Aug. 28 when Jerry Gourneau, a five-time trainer of the year at Assiniboia Downs, appears before a panel of board members with the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba to plead his innocence and appeal a six-month suspension and $10,000 fine.

“Everything was done according to the plan of following the rules. I didn’t break any of their rules. I was following the rules,” Gourneau told the Free Press on Friday.

The 62-year-old was handed what is believed to be among the harshest punishments at the local track after four of his horses tested positive earlier this season for dexamethasone, which is a steroid drug that treats inflammation, allergies, and adrenal insufficiency.

Although it’s a legal medication, positive tests should not occur if it was administered at the acceptable dosage and time range, which is 48 hours or more before a race.

“We’re trying to figure out how the heck the horses tested positive,” Gourneau said. “It’s a mystery.”

One that is deepened by the fact Dr. Cyndi Kasper, the licenced veterinarian in charge of administering the medication, has stated it was given to the affected horses 58 hours before they went to post and was done by the book.

Gourneau and his lawyer, David Wolfe Walker, plan to challenge the accuracy of the testing done by Racing Forensics Inc., which is the laboratory which processed the urine samples from the horses.

It could be an uphill climb. Provincial regulations state the buck ultimately stops with the trainer.

“It’s a real bad rule. Why are they putting the onus on just the trainers?” said Gourneau. “There are things that can happen on the back stretch that can happen to anybody. Why are they saying it’s all our responsibility. They’re saying no matter what happens out there, for those of us who are trainers, if someone sabotages us we are responsible for it. “

Gourneau, who hails from the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in Belcourt, N.D. and is a member of the North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame, has won 737 career races with purse winnings of nearly US $6 million combined. That’s led to four straight racing titles and five overall.

He believes that success has put a target on his back.

“Losers worry about winners. Winners worry about winning. That’s our whole motto. That’s why we’re successful,” said Gourneau.

“Everything was done according to the plan of following the rules. I didn’t break any of their rules. I was following the rules.”–Trainer Jerry Gourneau

“I don’t care about the losers out there that are always worried about knocking you down. Never have. Never will. I am where I’m at because I’m a hard-working person. I’m strong. I don’t let people bother me or get to me. I just keep on moving forward.”

Easier said than done these days given his status.

Three of Gourneau’s horses to test positive won their respective races — Woke Joke on June 5, She’s My Priority on June 10 and Mister K on June 12 — and were retroactively disqualified in separate rulings handed down on July 10. The other thoroughbred, Golden Diversion, finished second in a race on June 4, a ruling which has also now been voided.

Along with the five-figure fine, Gourneau must return his share of the purses from those races, which will then be properly re-distributed based on the new official finishing order. The specific amount has not been stated.

However, bettors who cashed winners involving Gourneau’s four horses get to keep the money. By the same token, those who might have otherwise won based on the now-adjusted results do not get to go back in time and get a payoff. No doubt that may have some folks fuming long after the fact.

“Positive drug tests have a direct impact on the integrity and outcome of a race, the safety of horse racing participants and horses, and carries financial incentive,” Lisa Hansen, a communications analyst with the LGCA, said in a statement this week.

“It is also in the public interest to protect animal and rider welfare, which is compromised if horses have been administered controlled substances.”

On the same day as those four specific rulings, which are publicly accessible on the LGCA website, a compliance order was made which spelled out the suspension. That document has not been made available to either Gourneau — another point they take issue with.

“We can share the reasons and penalty of a compliance order; however, a compliance order itself cannot be shared,” said Hansen.

So what exactly did the investigation dig up?

“I am where I’m at because I’m a hard-working person. I’m strong. I don’t let people bother me or get to me. I just keep on moving forward.”–Trainer Jerry Gourneau

“The compliance order is a result of multiple positive equine drug tests,” said Hansen.

“The LGCA’s rules of thoroughbred racing state that a trainer is responsible for the condition of a horse that is under their care and is entered in a race. This responsibility includes if a foreign or prohibited substance is found in the horse through drug testing, whether or not the horse’s intake of the substance was known to the trainer.”

Because the actual order itself isn’t made public, the rationale behind the penalty is not known.

“As with other industries we regulate, the LGCA uses a progressive discipline model based on the type and severity of infractions, and recurrence of a violation by a racing participant,” said Hansen.

“The compliance order issued to Gourneau is a result of multiple positive equine drug tests. As the matter is under appeal, we are unable to comment on how the penalty was determined.”

One likely factor is that this was not Gourneau’s first offence. He was given a two-day ban and $1,000 fine last summer after Witt Sweet Sixteen won a race in June 2023, then later tested positive for dexamethasone. Just like this time, Gourneau denies any wrongdoing in that case.

This whole scandal is hanging heavy over ASD, which has no role in the process and is taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to Gourneau, who is highly decorated member of the racing community and a proud Indigenous leader with tremendous support.

“I have not even seen the discipline decision in writing – only hearing it verbally from Jerry Gourneau himself,” said CEO Darren Dunn. “We have to just let this play out through the process available to all parties involved.”

Dunn noted there have been high-profile cases of horses disqualified long after a race ended which caused concern in the wagering community — most notably when bettors cashed winning tickets on Medina Spirit after he won the 2021 Kentucky Derby only to later be disqualified after testing positive for the anti-inflammatory steroid betamethasone.

“It is actually very straightforward in that the races that were declared official on the evening they were contested stand as correctly paid out to the wagering public per federal rules governing our sport, which is standard in North America as well,” said Dunn.

“I don’t take this lightly. I’m looking forward to my day before the tribunal to defend myself.”–Trainer Jerry Gourneau

The four positive tests wreaked havoc on the race card for several days. All of Gourneau’s horses — a stable of more than 50 — were scratched while additional investigation was done. That left races with as few as two horses, because this was happening at the same time multiple horses on the grounds were in temporary quarantine after a rare virus was detected in one.

Gourneau was trending towards another fifth straight — and sixth overall — title this summer with 18 wins by early June, which was twice as much as the next-best trainer. Now, he is not allowed on the grounds during his suspension, and all of his horses have now been transferred to trainer Lee Delaronde.

The appeal will be held at the LGCA offices at 1055 Milt Stegall Drive, beginning at 9 a.m. on Aug. 28. It is open to the media and the public “unless the board orders the appeal hearing or part of the hearing to be closed.”

“I don’t take this lightly,” said Gourneau. “I’m looking forward to my day before the tribunal to defend myself.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X: @mikemcintyrewpg