Twelve trainers, most of whom had horses who failed drug
tests in recent years, were banned from registering foals for 1-5 years, The
Jockey Club said in a news release Friday.

Michael Pino and James Nicholson Jr., two of the four active
Pennsylvania trainers who were named, got two-year penalties. Nick Caruso and
Ralph Riviezzo also got two years even though they have not had starters in
more than two years.

Gary Johnson, a top 10 trainer this year at Mahoning Valley
in Ohio, was handed a four-year sanction as was Angela Aquino, who trains
mostly at Los Alamitos in California.

Iowa-based Robert Roe, who has not had a starter in 2024, got
five years, the longest penalty on the list. He served a one-year training ban in
2020-21 and was fined $1,000 by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. At the
time Roe claimed he accidentally spilled a banned medication into a horse’s joint
supplement.

Damon Dilodovico, a Maryland trainer who had multiple positives
with his horses but none listed by the Thoroughbred Regulatory Rulings website since
2020, got three years.

Félix Flores-Coba of New Jersey and Ívan Vázquez of Ohio got
three years each, and José Romero of Ohio was penalized for two.

Amber Cobb, based in Delaware, got a one-year sanction but apparently
not for a medication violation. Thoroughbred Regulatory Rulings said she was
cited for behavioral violations in 2021, the last time she had a starter. She received
a seven-year training ban from the New Jersey Racing Commission in 2023.

The punishments take effect with the new year Wednesday and
are limited to foal registration. The 12 people named will not face other
restrictions at this point from The Jockey Club.

According to a news release, penalties may come when “there
is a final determination by a court, whether civil, criminal or administrative,
an official tribunal or an official racing body that such person killed,
abandoned, mistreated, neglected or abused or otherwise committed an act of
cruelty to a horse or violated applicable racing authority statutes, rules or
regulations relating to horses on one or more occasions involving prohibited or
restricted drugs, medications or substances … or on three or more occasions
in any 365-day period involving prohibited or restricted drugs, medications or
substances.”