Trainer Wong is provisionally suspended after B sample test

Jonathan Wong says he is considering abandoning his career as a horse trainer after being provisionally suspended under new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority rules following a positive result of a B sample of blood taken from a filly he trained for the banned substance metformin.

"I don’t even know if I want to (go back to training) to be honest with you. I work innumerable hours and have put my horses ahead of my wife and kids only to be facing a two-year suspension and $25,000 fine for something I didn't do," Wong told Horse Racing Nation on Friday, referring to the possible penalty he could face at a Sept. 25 hearing on the merits of the case. "I don’t know how the horse got it but I’m going to be held responsible for it. "

The substance at issue is metaformin, a prescription medication used to treat type 2 diabetes in humans as well as other ailments and used  in horses with persistently increased insulin concentrations as well as an off-label treatment for laminitis. But under Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority rules that took effect on May 22, the drug is not permitted at any level on race day.

Wong was originally suspended July 2 after the A sample taken from  Heaven and Earth after she won a maiden special weight at Horseshoe Indianapolis on June 1 tested positive for metformin. Dan Ross of Thoroughbred Daily News first reported that Wong was informed late Wednesday that Heaven and Earth's B sample also tested positive for metformin, resulting in a provisional suspension of Wong pending the hearing. The online portal of the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's enforcement wing, listed Wong's provisional suspension on Friday as active as opposed to pending.

Under the rules in force at the time of the original positive test on Heaven and Earth, provisional suspensions went into effect as soon as an A sample tested positive even if the trainer requested testing of the other half of the split sample.

HISA announced July 28 a rule change, effective immediately, allowing trainers to postpone the beginning of their provisional suspensions until the B sample test is completed. This change was implemented in light of the case of Mac Robertson, who was provisionally suspended after an A sample on 5-year-old gelding Johnny Up tested positive for altrenogest, a substance banned in all but intact mares. Robertson was reinstated 20 days later after a negative result on the B sample.

Under that rule change, trainers like Wong, who had requested B sample testing before the revision, had their provisional suspensions paused until those B samples came back. Trainers who had not yet requested a test of the B sample were again offered the opportunity to have them tested.

But Wong said the temporary lifting of his suspension didn't change anything, as his owners all declined to return their horses to him until the results of the B sample test were in.

Now he must wait another six weeks until his hearing with no income as he awaits the Sept. 25 hearing.

Wong gave credit to HISA officials for changing the rule so that the first positive test doesn't automatically trigger a provisional suspension, but said they also need to put in place rules that take into consideration the minute levels of medication that are detectable through testing.

In the case of Heaven and Earth, the tests found 0.6 nanograms of metaformin in the blood, almost certainly the result of environmental contamination according to veterinarians he has consulted, Wong said.

Wong said he was taking metaformin to control his type 2 diabetes at the time of the incident but doesn't know if he was the source of the medication found in Heaven and Earth, noting that it is the fifth most-commonly prescribed drug in the U.S. and there could be many possible sources of the contamination. But to be sure, he had to ask his doctor to change his prescription.

Despite that, he said, HISA officials continue to portray him as a cheater.

"You're guilty even before your case is heard and you get treated like you're the worst doper in the world," Wong said of his experience, adding that he had no prior positives for metaformin on his record. "They're acting like they caught me mainlining it in the stall or something."

He also said the proceedings against him send a bad message to anyone involved in the sport who suffers from type 2 diabetes.

"What they’re saying is if you’re a diabletic and on metaformin you can’t train horses," Wong said. "... This is pretty much telling anyone on metaformin that they cant give a horse a carrot or peppermint."

Wong also shared the results of a polygraph test that he took voluntarily that found "so significant reactions" - the equivalent of a negative result - when asked if he had given metaformin to Heaven and Earth or other horses in his care or had knowledge of or had misrepresented information about the source of the drug. Polygraphs, commonly known as lie detector tests, are not admissible in U.S. courts and may carry little weight at Wong's upcoming hearing.

As he awaits the resolution of his case, Wong says he is in a quandry, having recently moved his family from Northern California to Kentucky as his racing operation expanded.

"We just got a place not long ago, but now I have my wife and four kids and no way to take care of them because they took my livelhood away," he said.

And while he's not sure he has an appetite to return to training if he is hit with a harsh penalty at the upcoming hearing, he's not sure what else he could do to earn a living.

"I have no idea," he replied when asked if he was considering other career options. "Horse racing is all I've done since I was 16."

Horse Racing Nation contributor Rowan Ward contributed to this report.