Trainer Paul Valery is suspended until 2033, fined $75,500

Trainer Paul Valery was suspended until 2033 and fined $75,500 for multiple banned-substance violations as well as a controlled substance violation.

According to case-resolution documents published on the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit website, the suspensions and fines include sanctions for substances found in post-race tests for two horses from his barn, substances found in his barn and both banned and controlled substances that were administered to a horse on race day in violation of rules set out by the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority's anti-doping and medication control program. The actions previously were reported by Paulick Report.

Valery was fined $12,500 and suspended 18 months for each of six banned-substance violations, and fined another $500 for a controlled-substance violation. According to the HIWU rulings, Valery admitted to the violations and accepted the consequences that regulators levied.

Two of the violations were for banned substances found in post-race samples for Quincy Cafe and Pure Speight. After winning an $8,000 claiming race March 13 at Gulfstream, post-race tests detected the breast cancer drug foremstane as well as the anabolic steroid 4-hydroxoytestosterone in Quincy Cafe. The same two substances were found in a post-race test of Pure Speight after winning a claiming race April 21 at Gulfstream.

Formestane inhibits the production of estrogen. It is helpful to stem the growth of breast cancer cells, but can also lead to the body increasing production of other hormones, including testosterone, and thus can have a performance-enhancing effect.

Valery also was fined and suspended for possession of two separate products in his barn with dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). DHEA is a banned anabolic steroid.

The other two banned-substance violations link to banned substances administered to Quincy Cafe on Jan. 7, a day he started in a claiming race at Gulfstream. He was administered DHEA and gamma aminobutyric acid, a neurotransmitter often called GABA.  

Because of the banned-substance findings, Quincy Cafe and Pure Speight are ineligible to race for 14-month periods as well.

Valery also was fined $500 for three equine supplements that were administered to Quincy Cafe on Jan. 7. The supplements were not on the banned list but also not among substances explicitly allowed during the ADMC race period. Thus they were regulated as controlled substances.

Before training at Gulfstream, Valery trained horses in Venezuela. He trained Venezuela-bred The Brother Slew, a multiple Group 1-placed horse in Venezuela who won the Clásico Internacional del Caribe, a stakes race at Gulfstream that was open to horses bred in Caribbean member countries. He began running horses regularly at Gulfstream in 2023.