Suspension Sidelines Biancone
Thoroughbred Trainer Denies Charges of Cobra Venom in His Barn
Patrick Biancone took a polygraph test to boost his claim that he was unaware of illegal medications in his barn at Keeneland in June. This is his third drug violation.
Thoroughbred trainer Patrick Biancone was suspended for ten months for the results of positive drug tests on two horses in his barn in Hong Kong in 2000. In 1997, Biancone was fined for drug tests that came up positive for more than 20 of his horses in training.
Now Biancone is under suspension again, this time for possession of illegal substances that were found in his barn at Keeneland Race Course June 22nd.
Investigators for the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority discovered Alpha-Cobratoxin (a nerve-blocking agent concocted from snake venom), medications (mostly vaccines), and injectable solutions in Biancone's barn at Keeneland. Kentucky stewards suspended Biancone for one year. He was sidelined from training beginning October 15.
Three vials of cobra venom were found in a refrigerator in the tack room of the barn. The injectable solutions and other medications in question were found in a cooler in the same refrigerator.
Biancone said none of the substances found were his. He underwent a polygraph test to back up his claim. He will appeal the decision of the stewards.
This is the third time Biancone has been scrutinized over a banned substance issue. He came to the United States in 2000 after the second incident in Hong Kong.
Biancone, 55, said he hoped he would receive "some degree of fairness" in this latest suspension. He is determined, he said, to prove his innocence.
Rod Stewart, D.V.M., Biancone's veterinarian, was given a five-year suspension as a result of the cobra venom investigation. Stewart did not comment. Biancone received an additional one-year suspension for not reporting Stewart's possession of the cobra venom.
Several 30-day suspensions were also slapped on Biancone for violations of commonwealth regulations dealing with labeling of substances and for possession of injectables. All the suspensions may be served concurrently.
KHRA Executive Director Lisa Underwood said the stewards' decisions should make it very clear that violations of the Authority's drug regulations will be handled swiftly and with strict interpretation. The integrity of the industry and the sport must be upheld, she said.
In his training efforts, Biancone had success in the 1980s with France's All Along (1983 Horse of the Year) and with All Along and Sagace as back to back winners of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (1983-'84). In the United States in 2004, he trained Lion Heart, who chased champion Smarty Jones through the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.
Kentucky's chief steward, John Veitch, and Underwood said they would have no further comment on Biancone's case.
