NEWS
Dandy receives 30-day suspension for cocaine positive
Posted: Wednesday, October 02, 2002
The New Hampshire Pari-Mutuel Commission has suspended New England's leading trainer, Ron Dandy, because a horse he trains, Nannie's Sword, tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine following an allowance race on September 1 at Rockingham Park.
Nannie's Sword finished first in the race but was disqualified and placed last in the seven-horse field.
Dandy recently scored his 2,000th career victory, and he won the trainer's title at Rockingham Park this season with 68 winners from 246 starters. The commission indicated that it would soon announce four other cocaine infractions apparently involving horses with other trainers.
Dandy, who said he has not previously received a drug-related suspension, could appeal.
"It's just an embarrassment to me," Dandy told the Boston Globe. "I won my 2,000th race this year, and I'm seventh in wins in the country. I'm not going to give a horse cocaine. There is a contamination problem. The rulings haven't come down yet, but there are four or five positives coming on other trainers—all at the end of the meet. Why were there no positives earlier in the meet? A light has got to come on someplace. Something's wrong."
Dandy is considering his appeal options, but in the meantime, the trainer turned his stable over to his wife, Kathleen, who is his assistant trainer.
