Trainer Phil Serpe has been handed a two-year suspension from an arbitrator appointed by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit for a clenbuterol positive in a horse he trained that raced in New York in 2024.
Serpe, 66, argued in pre-hearing filings and during his hearing in June that he did not administer clenbuterol, a strictly regulated bronchial dilator, to the horse or know how the horse tested positive for the drug. Serpe also contended that the horse could have tested positive due to contamination of its sample.
The horse, Fast Kimmie, tested positive for the drug after winning a $30,000 claiming race on Aug. 10, 2024, at Saratoga Racecourse.
The HIWU arbitrator, Jeffrey Benz, found Serpe responsible for the positive test, citing a version of the absolute insurer rule that has been used to adjudicate drug positives in racing for decades while contending that evidence presented by HIWU during the hearing argued against a theory of contamination.
“Mr. Serpe was at all times strictly liable for any violations of the [Anit-Doping and Medication Control] Program committed by other covered persons, employees, personnel, agents, or other persons involved in the care, treatment, training, or racing of Fast Kimmie,” Benz wrote. “It is thus no defense for Mr. Serpe to point the finger at a blacksmith or unidentified exercise rider and provide no additional explanation of any precautions taken by Mr. Serpe to ensure that his covered horse was not inadvertently exposed to a banned substance.”
Bradford Beilly, an attorney for Serpe, said on Tuesday morning that he had filed an appeal of the arbitrator’s decision. Appeals of arbitrator’s rulings are heard by the Federal Trade Commission.
Serpe’s suspension officially began on Tuesday morning, and Beilly said that it “was his understanding” that Serpe has begun the process of moving his horses to other trainers.
The case is complicated by a lawsuit Serpe filed in a U.S. District Court against HISA and the FTC in October of last year contending that HISA was depriving him of his constitutional right to a trial by jury. A judge in May denied Serpe’s request for a preliminary injunction in that case, but the judge also told Serpe he could re-file the action if the case was adjudicated by HIWU.
Beilly argued in the suit that jury trials are required in cases in which a government agency is seeking a fine. The ruling in Serpe’s case did not include a fine, contrary to other similar cases in which a banned substance was involved, Beilly said.
“HISA has been playing games throughout this process,” Beilly said.
Serpe will re-file his lawsuit seeking a jury trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Tuesday, Beilly said. The suit will include a request for preliminary injunction against the suspension.
Although clenbuterol is a potent bronchial dilator, the drug can be used to build muscle mass when given regularly. That property of the drug has led regulators to persistently tighten the screws on its use in racing, and HISA’s rules restrict use of the drug to horses who have been prescribed the medication under a clear diagnosis. Horses who meet this criteria are not allowed to train or run until the drug has fully cleared their systems.
Fast Kimmie tested positive for the drug in her initial urine sample but not her blood sample. A split same of the urine and the blood had identical results, according to the ruling.
Serpe has been training for four decades, mostly on the East Coast, and has been issued fines twice in the past 12 years, once for an overage of the regulated medication phenylbutazone and another for breezing a horse within a stand-down period after shock-wave therapy, according to regulatory records. He has won 1,086 races from 8,091 career starts, with career purse earnings of $35 million.
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