Diodoro is suspended, accused of having banned medication

Robertino Diodoro, a top-15 trainer nationally in wins or earnings each of the last 10 years, has been hit with a provisional suspension by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit, the regulator’s website said Friday.

Facing as long as a two-year suspension if the accusation holds up, Diodoro was said to have had a banned thyroid medication in his possession. He did not comment on the charge when contacted by Thoroughbred Daily News, which first reported the story Friday. Diodoro hired Arkansas attorney John Holleman to represent him, according to TDN.

The HIWU website said the drug levothyroxine was found in Diodoro’s possession March 13. Details about the specific location were not mentioned publicly by HIWU, but Oaklawn president Louis Cella told BloodHorse the finding came in a routine inspection of Diodoro’s barn at the Arkansas track.

Diodoro was ordered to leave Oaklawn, according to BloodHorse, with a Sunday deadline to get everything out of his barn. Five horses he already had entered Friday and Saturday at the track, including Midshipman’s Dance in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes, were allowed to race. Three of Diodoro’s entries next week at Turf Paradise in Arizona also are OK to go forward before the provisional suspension takes effect.

Levothyroxine, according to the Science Direct website run by Netherlands academic publisher Elsevier, “accelerates weight loss in horses that are placed on a controlled diet, and this is accompanied by increased insulin sensitivity.”