ILLEGAL DRUGS FOUND IN WINNING HORSE AT MOUNTAIN TOP FUTURITY
Ruidoso Downs owner R.D. Hubbard, and Albuquerque Downs owner Paul Blanchard were excited when their filly “Lilly Is First” won the Mountain Top Futurity at Ruidoso Downs, winning a prize of $141,622. They were much less than happy when their winning horse tested positive for illegal amounts of clenbuterol, a performance enhancing drug.
The owners will have the opportunity to contest the results of the drug testing with a split sample of the horse’s blood. If all of the tests prove positive for illegal use of the drug, Blanchard and Hubbard will lose their share of the prize money, and the trainers will be fined and suspended.
Although the track owners trumpet their reforms at their tracks, including sequestering the race horses in the track barns for 10 days before the trials, and the installation of about 100 cameras in the barns to monitor the horses, somehow…the owners’ horse ended up being injected with performance enhancing drugs.
An article on this story in the Alamogordo News can be read by clicking here.
This is not the first time R. D. Hubbard has been investigated for possible criminal activity. Back in 2002 eyewitness accounts and physical evidence indicated that Hubbard’s corporation, Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., flew prostitutes to the Hubbard Invitational Golf Classic at the Belterra Casino and Resort in Switzerland County, Indiana, and were witnessed being engaged in lewd conduct with celebrities and other guests of Pinnacle Entertainment. Such activities are in violation of Federal Law (The Mann Act) and various Indiana State laws (Public Indecency and Promoting Prostitution).
Other Indiana state laws investigated included issuance of markers and illegal check cashing for guests of Pinnacle.
It appears that Mr. Hubbard avoided prosecution by paying over $3 million in personal and corporate fines, resigning from leadership of Pinnacle Entertainment, and losing his gambling license in Indiana.
Back in 1995-1997, when the legislature was voting on legislation to provide slots for the racetracks, Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico warned that this would invite much more criminal activity to the state. Guess what happened.
Time for the government to abandon the failed experiment with predatory gambling.
