Meadowlands Announces Exclusion List Additions

On Friday, Nov. 3, Meadowlands Racetrack issued a statement indicating that a number of individuals would be placed on the track's exclusion list, effective Dec. 1, 2023.

The statement from The Meadowlands appears below:

The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, the Hon. Mary Kay Vyskocil, has entered Orders of Conviction for Seth Fishman and Lisa Giannelli each having been charged as Defendants in the matter of United States v. Navarro, Docket No. 1:20-cr-00160-MKV– SDNY. Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who prosecuted these cases, announced at the time that Seth Fishman DVM received a sentence of 11 years in prison for his role at the helm of an approximately twenty-year scheme to manufacture, market, and sell to racehorse trainers and others in the racehorse industry “untestable” performance enhancing drugs for use in professional horseracing. Williams further announced that Lisa Giannelli received a sentence of 42 months for her role in that scheme as she was charged and prosecuted by his office arising from his Office’s multi-year investigation of the abuse of racehorses through the use of performance enhancing drugs. 

Among the volumes of evidence introduced by the U.S. Attorney in the prosecution of these cases are trial exhibits, offered in open court and now available to the public, which reveal the identity of numerous persons who have purchased prohibited substances - BB3 (EPO) or TB-7 Thymosyn (sp). Persons identified in the lists below and categorized under those substances, are referenced in those trial exhibits released by the US Attorney SDNY office to The Meadowlands at its request.

Also, as part of its investigation, the Federal government conducted its own collection of blood and urine samples from racehorses, both post-race and from out of competition testing. Below is a list under the category, Drug Positives Federal Investigation, identifying trainers whose horses tested positive in those tests.

This remains a serious matter. Consequently, the Meadowlands is conducting its own internal investigation given these revelations. And until that investigation is completed, the Meadowlands has determined that all individuals listed below will be placed on the Meadowlands exclusion list. Furthermore, to avoid any appearance of conflict or impropriety regarding a horse’s eligible to stakes during the month of November in which horses owned by Jeff Gural may race, the above exclusion will be effective as of December 1, 2023.

We believe this timeframe will also allow owners, should they choose, an opportunity to change trainers and/or horses in partnership with excluded owners. We anticipate the Meadowlands investigation will be time consuming. We also expect that additional disclosures will be released, and if so, where warranted, the Meadowlands will act on that information. We will also require that any change of trainers or dissolution of any partnerships with excluded owners will require proof to the satisfaction of The Meadowlands. We believe these steps are warranted per the revelations from the above prosecutions and are necessary in the interest of the industry we all love and wish to preserve.

(Meadowlands)