Mac Robertson is cleared; 6 others get federal suspensions

Akin to the picking up of a penalty flag in football, a federal suspension of trainer Mac Robertson was thrown out Friday night, nearly three weeks after the trainer based at Canterbury Park was forced out of competition over a disputed medication violation.

It happened the same day as the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit, which enforces Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority regulations, accused six more trainers of medication violations and put them on provisional suspensions.

In Robertson’s case, HIWU posted a notice on its resolutions portal saying, “EAD (equine anti-doping) notice withdrawn, provisional suspensions lifted.” BloodHorse reported the testing of the second half of a split sample did not confirm any violation.

When he was hit with his provisional suspension early this month, Robertson was held responsible for a failed drug test on 5-year-old Johnny Up. HIWU said the gelding tested positive for “a banned substance and/or its metabolites or markers” after winning a $10,500 claiming race June 4 at Canterbury. Robertson faced as much as a two-year suspension and a $25,000 fine before the case was closed Friday night.

Johnny Up was flagged for altrenogest, a progestin that the Food and Drug Administration said five years ago was made to suppress the symptoms of mares going into heat. In male horses it may be used to stifle aggressive behavior, according to the U.S. Equestrian Federation. HISA rules prohibit the use of altrenogest on all males and infertile females.

Saying he supported HISA for its goals but not for how it handled his case, Robertson told BloodHorse, “When you look at it, a provisional suspension is about as un-American as you can get. Everyone in racing should oppose it. All American citizens should oppose it.”

Robertson started training part time in 1994 and went full time 10 years later. He has 1,544 wins from 7,108 starts and purse earnings of $42,047,731, according to Equibase. He may be best known for training millionaire horse Win Willy, who was a 56-1 winner in the 2009 Rebel (G2) and also victorious in the 2011 Oaklawn Handicap (G2). He also helped his father Hugh Robertson in the training of Two Emmys, the winner of the 2021 Mr. D. (G1) in the last days of Arlington Park.

Two of the six new provisional suspensions posted Friday also came with accusations of altrenogest abuse. Horses in the care of Natalia Lynch at Monmouth Park and Mary Pirone at Emerald Downs were flagged by HIWU after losing races June 24. As in Robertson’s case, Lynch and Pirone face up to two years on the sideline and fines of up to $25,000.

Javier Morzán at Delaware Park, Guadalupe Múñoz Jr. at Ruidoso Downs, David Reid at Hawthorne and Lorenzo Ruis at Los Alamitos were hit with provisional suspensions after being held responsible for other medications turning up in failed tests between June 11 and 24.