Two of the winningest trainers at Saratoga Race Course are among 27 racing industry insiders indicted today after a two-year investigation into the illegal doping of horses at some of America’s premier racetracks.

Trainers Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro are facing charges related to the use of adulterated performance-enhancing drugs. In all, the indictments announced in federal court in Manhattan today named 11 trainers, seven veterinarians and nine drug suppliers or distributors,

Although Servis and Navarro are among the top-earning trainers at Saratoga, the indictments do not allege any specific cases of doping at that track, according to the Albany Times-Union.

U.S. Attorney Geoff Berman said the investigation found that adulterated and misbranded drugs were given to horses so they could run unnaturally fast and reduce their abilities to feel pain, the Times-Union reported.

“This is the most far-reaching investigation into the horse-racing industry in the history of the Department of Justice,” Berman said during a news conference.

In 2019, Servis was the fifth-leading trainer at Saratoga, with more than $939,000 in earnings, according to the Times-Union, citing New York Racing Association data. Servis started 52 horses and had 13 first-place finishes.

Navarro was the 22nd best earning trainer at Saratoga last year, with more than $354,000 in earnings. He started 16 horses and had four winners, according to the NYRA rankings cited by the Times-Union.

Servis may be best known to casual race fans as the trainer of Maximum Security, the horse that crossed the finish line first at the 2019 Kentucky Derby, but was later disqualified for bumping other horses. The indictments say Maximum Security was one of the horses that Servis doped.

Navarro was charged with two counts of drug alteration and misbranding conspiracy. Servis was charged with one count.

The investigation found that the scheme involved several types of drugs: Blood builders, which boost oxygen to the horses’ muscles; pain blockers, which can put the horses at increased risk of injury; and bronchodialators and other drugs that reduce bleeding in the horses’ lungs during races.

The scheme took place at tracks in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio and Kentucky, as well as the United Arab Emirates, according to the indictments.

To avoid detection of their scheme, the indictment said, the defendants routinely defrauded and misled federal and state regulators “and the betting public.”

“Over the course of the scheme, participants manufactured, purchased, sold, shipped, delivered, received and administered thousands of units” of performance-enhancing drugs, or PEDs, for use on race horses, Berman wrote in the indictment against 19 of 27 defendants.

The investigation comes at a time when the American horse racing industry is under scrutiny for an increasing number of track deaths. According to the New York Times, citing the Jockey Club’s Equine Injury Database, almost 10 horses a week on average died at U.S. racetracks in 2018. That’s two and a half to five times greater than the fatality rate in Europe and Asia, where rules against performance-enhancing drugs are enforced more stringently, the Times reported.

Related:

» Saratoga among tracks to ban race day anti-bleeding meds

» 10 horses die in nine days at New York tracks

Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

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