Report: FTC hears dispute over claim for since-euthanized horse

A complicated, 15-month dispute over a voided claim for a horse who died three weeks after a failed drug test went to a Federal Trade Commission hearing Friday, according to details chronicled by Paulick Report.

According to the story written by Chelsea Hackbarth, owner-trainer Derrick Parram told an FTC hearing officer he should not have been ordered to return the $12,500 that he was paid in December 2022. That was when then-6-year-old gelding Girls Love Me was claimed from him by trainer Dale Capuano for owners Louis Ulman and Walter Vieser after a race at Laurel Park.

“I am more than willing to abide by the rule and return the claim price if the horse was returned, but that is not possible,” Parram reportedly told FTC administrative law judge Michael Chappel.

Girls Love Me finished second in the race from which he was claimed, but he was disqualified to last place after a drug test came back positive the following month for the anti-inflammatory dexamethasone and the diuretic trichlormethiazide.

In between, Girls Love Me hurt a knee when he finished fifth as the favorite Dec. 31, 2022, in another claiming race at Laurel Park. He was in for another $16,000 tag that day but went unclaimed from what turned out to be his last race. Girls Love Me developed colic after subsequent surgery, and he was euthanized Jan. 29, 2023.

Paulick Report said Ulman, a former chairperson of the Maryland Racing Commission, and Visser used the positive drug test as their lever to protest the claim. They filed their objection two days after Girls Love Me died. Maryland stewards heard the case the following week, and they ordered Parram to return the $12,500 to Ulman and Visser.

“The fact that the new owner euthanized this horse would have a crippling effect on my business,” Parram reportedly said in his appeal to the FTC. According to Paulick Report, he also said he would not have given up his right to a follow-up drug test of a split sample if he thought there was a chance the claim have been voided.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority denied Parram’s appeal Oct. 4, according to Hackbarth’s report. That led to the hearing at the FTC, which oversees HISA.

The case is complicated by the fact HISA was not fully deployed for another three months after the failed drug test.

Chappel said he would not make a ruling until after lawyers for the two sides make filings in April.