Kentucky stewards vacated five rulings Jan. 14 previously issued against trainer Joe Sharp in the state related to a series of drug positives for levamisole from races at Churchill Downs in November 2019.
Those test results and others that followed that winter in Louisiana came after Sharp said he began using a deworming product containing levamisole in late 2019. Louisiana fined Sharp $1,000 per occurrence but did not issue suspensions, unlike Kentucky, which fined him $500 and handed him a 30-day suspension, sanctions Sharp appealed. Louisiana followed the drug guidelines of the Association of Racing Commissioners International in assessing their cases, Sharp said.
Kentucky stewards wrote the prior rulings were vacated "due to the declassification of levamisole in August 2015 by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission."
"They basically called false positives," Sharp said.
The latest action does not change disqualifications of Sharp's horses, the trainer said, after affected owners chose to accept the loss of purse to maintain conditions rather than run into eligibility issues while under appeal.
In describing Sharp's appeal in January of last year, Sharp's attorney, Clark Brewster, pointed to a levamisole case involving trainer Daniel Werre, whose one-year suspension for levamisole was reversed by a Kentucky judge in 2015, with the judge citing the KHRC's improper classification of the drug at the time. The KHRC later reduced the suspension to one week and fined him $500.
During a meeting of the KHRC in the summer of 2015, the commission dropped levamisole from its classification schedule. Dr. Mary Scollay, then KHRC equine medical director, explained to the commissioners that levamisole metabolizes into aminorex, making dropping a classification for levamisole appropriate.
Sharp's horses did not test positive for aminorex, Brewster indicated last winter.
Reached Saturday evening, Brewster criticized the KHRC for their initial actions, which he said by their own rules, never should have occurred. Sharp's owners lost purse money, and some disqualified horses were transferred from the trainer, including Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector.
Art Collector won graded stakes in 2020 and 2021 for trainers Tommy Drury and Bill Mott.
"I'm pleased that the result is correct, but great damage was done not only to him but to the sport, in letting this play out," Brewster said. "And who steps up and says, 'Hey, we're sorry for this?' Or, 'This wasn't right?' Who does that? That answer, we know, is no one."
KHRC officials have previously indicated they do not comment on regulatory matters.
Sharp, whose stable won 103 races and $4.2 million in 2019 from 652 starts, won 54 races in 2020 and 59 races last year with much fewer starts, 355 and 386, respectively. He has 675 career victories and stable earnings of $28.1 million since beginning training in 2014.
Sharp thanked his owners that stuck by him through his appeal.
"It's been a long couple of years, and we're glad to put it behind us and come out on the right side of it," he said.
