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Trainer Asmussen cleared in Ky. investigation

Gregory A. Hall

@gregoryahall

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Nothing in an undercover investigation by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals into the operations of leading thoroughbred trainer Steve Asmussen showed a violation of rules on medication or care, Kentucky officials announced Thursday.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission discussed the findings of its investigators that neither Asmussen nor his assistant Scott Blasi had done anything wrong, and the commission took no further action -- in effect accepting the 213-page report.

Not only did the investigation find no rules violations, "on the contrary, (it) revealed that Asmussen-trained horses were well cared for as measured by such factors as (lower) incidence of injuries and (fewer) KHRC veterinarian scratches," Chairman Bob Beck said reading a statement after a closed-door meeting of about 90 minutes to discuss the report.

Asmussen, 49, is thoroughbred racing's second-leading trainer all time in terms of races won and is fifth in terms of purses earned, according to industry recordkeeper Equibase. But his hall of fame resume has been placed on hold by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame the last two years pending investigations by the Kentucky and New York regulators with whom PETA filed complaints. The New York investigation is ongoing.

The reviews stemmed from an undercover investigation by PETA — detailed March 19 by The New York Times with an accompanying video from the animal welfare group — alleging that Asmussen and Blasi were cruel to horses in their care at Churchill Downs and at Saratoga Race Course in New York, including using electronic "buzzers" to shock horses to run faster and medicating injured horses so they could pass veterinary inspections.

PETA's undercover investigator Kerin B. Rosen worked in Asmussen's barn as a hot walker in 2013 where she secretly videotaped scenes and conversations, which Asmussen and others have said were heavily edited.

"From the moment we saw the video," attorney Clark Brewster, who represents Asmussen and Blasi, said in an interview Thursday, "we knew that it was presented in a way that was not only slanted but frankly dishonest. We always knew from day one and had the confidence that Steve and Scott always were vigilant about rules and great caretakers for horses."

Much of the video included Blasi using profanities, but the commission report said that didn't constitute a rules violation and no evidence was found to support accusations of abuse of horses, use of buzzers or other rules violations. No audio of Asmussen was on the video.

Asmussen initially dismissed Blasi because of the profanity Blasi used in the video describing an owner before rehiring his longtime assistant in July. Brewster said at that time that Asmussen felt Blasi had been punished enough — and Asmussen said he checked with owners before the rehiring.

Beyond the language, Asmussen and Blasi both denied PETA's findings, but the allegations cast a pall over the industry for months. Ogden Mills Phipps, chairman of The Jockey Club that registers thoroughbreds and has a bully pulpit for the sport, went so far as to suggest it would be better for the industry if Asmussen avoided last year's Derby, in which he ran Tapiture.

Brewster declined to say Thursday whether Phipps owes Asmussen an apology, but did generally address people who reacted to PETA's claims.

"What I hope the people that jump to conclusions will realize now (is) that this organization had an agenda," Brewster said. "It was a dishonest agenda that was intended to attack the sport of horse racing."

PETA claims leave cloud over Asmussen barn

In his own defense, Asmussen mostly declined to comment about the investigation, but said, in a Derby week interview with NBC Sports' Bob Costas, that the allegations were "horribly misleading and untrue," and said the video was edited for "shock value" without showing any rules violations.

The Kentucky investigation agreed with Asmussen's and Brewster's take on the videos, determining that the undercover footage provided by PETA was "extensively edited and dubbed, casting doubt on the credibility of 'evidence' as presented by PETA," Beck said. "PETA refused to provide unedited materials and additional materials despite repeated requests from the KHRC."

Kentucky investigators also looked at post-race drug testing for Asmussen's horses compared to the general population over a two-year period and found "Asmussen-trained horses carried a substantially lower medication load when compared to the general thoroughbred population of thoroughbred horses racing in Kentucky."

The Kentucky investigation also questioned the credibility of the undercover worker Rosen, in part, because "she was in an intimate relationship with Blasi while PETA's 'investigation' was ongoing," the report said. "In text messages voluntarily provided by Blasi, it appears that Rosen regretted her involvement in the 'investigation' and did not agree with the negative image the allegations paint of Blasi."

A footnote quotes Rosen saying the relationship "just happened" and was not part of her instructions for conducting the undercover investigation.

PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo responded to the Kentucky findings in a statement saying: "The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has today distinguished itself for being as uninterested in horse welfare as the Syrian government is in human suffering. If there was nothing wrong in the documentation that PETA found, then something is very wrong with racing in Kentucky."

Churchill Downs, which deferred to investigators and allowed Asmussen to continue working at the track, did not comment Thursday on the Kentucky regulators' findings.

Asmussen, a South Dakota native, comes from a racing family of breeders, owners, trainers and jockeys. He became a trainer in 1986 after his weight forced him to abandon a teenage jockey career, and he has since conditioned some of the sport's best horses, like two-time Horse of the Year Curlin and Rachel Alexandra, the 2009 Horse of the Year.

More recently, Asmussen has trained last year's likely 3-year-old Eclipse Award champion filly Untapable, whose campaign was highlighted by wins in the Longines Kentucky Oaks and Breeders' Cup Distaff. He also was the leading trainer during the spring meet and shared the September meet title, extending his record for Churchill Downs training titles to 15.

Asmussen served a six-month suspension in 2006-07 for a Louisiana medication violation, and paid a $250 fine in 2008 for cursing at a Churchill Downs starter when demanding that a specific assistant starter be assigned to help one of his Derby horses into the gate. Asmussen denied using profanity.

Reporter Gregory A. Hall can be reached at (502) 582-4087. Follow him on Twitter at @gregoryahall.