Report: Court may drop animal-cruelty charges against trainer

A proposed court order filed in Kentucky would dismiss animal cruelty charges against former Thoroughbred trainer Maria Borell and allow her to resume working with horses in the state, according to a BloodHorse report.

Citing court documents, the publication reported that an attorney for Borell and the Mercer County attorney had agreed to the proposed order filed Tuesday. The report did not make clear when the Mercer County District Court would consider the proposed order, but court records indicate a pre-trial hearing is scheduled for July 27.

BloodHorse reported that in addition to dismissing the 43 animal cruelty charges against Borell, the order would require her to forfeit the $7,500 bond she posted. Borell, best known as the original trainer of Runhappy before she was dismissed by owner James McInvale, and her father, Charles Borell, were charged in June 2016 after malnourished horses were found on a farm in Mercer County.

The elder Borell pleaded guilty to nine counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty in September 2016 and sentenced to 179 days in jail, 176 of which were suspended, BloodHorse said.

A separate civil complaint filed against the Borells by the Mercer County government that was later dismissed alleged that the horses were receiving little care. "No caretakers were present. Stall buckets and troughs were either completely empty or contained small amounts of dirty water that was contaminated with loose debris, algae, and mosquito larvae. High temperatures made the lack of clean water especially dangerous to the horses’ health," BloodHorse quoted it as saying.

Equibase statistics show that Borell’s last starter ran on May 11, 2016, at Gulfstream Park. The dismissal of the animal cruelty charges would allow her to resume training, but the BloodHorse report did not say whether she has plans to do so.