After a postrace finding for a controlled substance, the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit has sanctioned Southern California-based trainer George Papaprodromou and disqualified filly Sneaker from a May stakes win at Santa Anita Park.
Papaprodromou-trained Sneaker will be disqualified from her clear score in the $101,000 Fran's Valentine Stakes May 24 on the Santa Anita turf after HIWU, the enforcement arm of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, determined the 4-year-old California-bred daughter of Oscar Performance tested positive for capsaicin in her postrace test.
With the disqualification of Sneaker from what had been a 2 1/4-length victory over other California-bred or -sired runners in the Fran's Valentine, runner-up Cornelia Fort will be declared the winner and purse money will be redistributed. A grade 3-placed runner for owner R L Stables, the Fran's Valentine had been the lone stakes win to date for Sneaker.
The change will give Cornelia Fort, a 5-year-old daughter of Grazen campaigned by Greenway Racing Stables, William Branch, Richard Catone, and trainer Andy Mathis, the first stakes win of her career.
Besides the seven-day suspension, HIWU fined Papaprodromou $1,000 and assigned two penalty points. The finding posted to the HIWU website says that the trainer admitted the violation and accepted the consequences.
Controlled substances are therapeutic and allowed to be used in training but are highly regulated. Findings for controlled substances generally call for less severe punishments than violations in HIWU's other category, banned substances, which are never to be administered to a horse.
A controlled substance, capsaicin is a topical analgesic offered in such brand names as Qutenza, Salonpas-Hot, or Zostrix.
