Win, Place or Cheat...

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - For some time, New Mexico horse racing officials suspected that racehorses in the state were being doped with a new clandestine drug called “frog juice.”

The problem was state tests couldn’t detect the exotic drug, which is a potent narcotic called dermorphin said to be more powerful than morphine. Some believe the drug can make a horse run faster.

“The drugs that we are talking about here are the worst case,” said Rob Doughty, chairman of the New Mexico Racing Commission. “They are Class A drugs that have no reason to be in a horse. And it’s very serious.”

Rumors about dermorphin use became so pronounced that racing officials worried about tarnishing the Ruidoso Futurity, held in June, and the Ruidoso Derby, held in July. Together the two races promised purses of a combined $1.7 million.

“When I first heard about it, I was extremely upset,” said R.D. Hubbard, who owns Ruidoso Downs. “I’ve been upset for some time just on the rumors.”

So the racing commission laid a trap for the crooks who they suspected of rigging races. The Racing Commission secretly sent urine samples from the time trials held May 25-26 to an out-of-state laboratory with a newly developed test for dermorphin.

Two weeks later, the commission had its results: 40 percent of the horses finishing ‘in the money’ in the 25 time trial races on May 25 were illegally drugged.

‘They’re not playing fair,” said Terry Walker, past president of the New Mexico Horseman’s Association. “It’s just the way it is. It’s been this way for a long time. Something comes out, and everybody gets to using it.”

In fact, the first-place winner in eight of the 25 time trial races on May 25 was found to have been drugged with dermorphin. The third place winner in a ninth race also tested positive for the narcotic.

In addition, the drug ractopamine--an illegal substance commonly found in pig feed--was detected in four other horses, each of which finished a time trial race in first or second place.

“It’s important that we know these illegal drugs are being used out there,” Doughty said. “And that’s why I was willing to send them to a lab that charged significantly more for the test just so we could get the confirmation and we can put a stop to that use here in New Mexico.”

The state contracts with Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, to conduct all testing on racehorses in New Mexico. However, the time trial samples were sent to the University of California-Davis, which is one of only a few labs in the country with the capability to test for dermorphin.

Three prominent New Mexico horse trainers have been implicated in the dermorphin scandal:

• Jeffrey “Heath” Reed, who trained five different horses that won five separate time trial races at Ruidoso Downs on May 25.
• Carlos Sedillo, who trained two horses that finished first at the May 25 time trials.
• John Bassett, who trained two horses that finished first and third at the May 25 time trials.

Reed hung up the phone when contacted by KRQE News 13 while Sedillo and Bassett did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Trainer Carl Draper is accused of giving four quarterhorses ractopamine, which is considered a less serious substance than dermorphin. Draper told News 13 that in 34 years of horse racing, he has never drugged a horse and has no idea how ractopamine ended up in his horses.

One of the horses that tested positive for ractopamine is owned by New Mexico Racing Commissioner Ray Willis. Willis said he fired his trainer and will recuse himself from all matters relating to the doping cases.

“The cheaters are not welcome in New Mexico and New Mexico horse racing,” Doughty said. “And if and when they are caught, they are going to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. And this commission is just not going to tolerate it. And we don’t care who you are.”

The investigation into the time trial races is ongoing, and none of the accused trainers have yet been formally charged. However, the racing commission can suspend and levy big fines on anyone caught doping horses.

Criminally, doping a racehorse is a misdemeanor although no one has ever been prosecuted for the offense. That may change, though, because a new statute that took effect three weeks ago makes horse doping a fourth-degree felony.

Hubbard, the Ruidoso Downs owner, said he’s heard rumors that trainers or handlers are getting dermorphin from a "major supplier" in Nebraska.

“Our whole business depends on the public trust and the bettors,” he said. “Every time this happens, it just turns more people off and more people against racing.”

Freda McSwane, an attorney and race horse owner, deplored the use of illegal drugs in race horses.

“They are cheating, and it’s illegal,” she said. “New Mexico does breed some very talented race horses. It’s just a big black eye when any one of these trainers decides that they’re going to take advantage of the system. And that’s what they’re doing.”

And it’s not just illegal and unethical.  Racing experts