rainer Allegedly Ordered Pepper Rub Put On Horses
March 17, 1996|By DAVE JOSEPH Staff Writer
HALLANDALE - — Calling it \"a ruthless act ... an unconscionable and despicable act of animal cruelty,\" the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering served trainer Frank Passero with an administrative complaint Saturday for allegedly ordering a groom to rub a substance containing cayenne pepper around his horses\' rectums and genitals to make them run faster at Gulfstream Park.
Passero, who this year won a record 14 consecutive races at Gulfstream and has never had one of his horses come back with a positive test result for an illegal substance, denied using pepper improperly.
\"That\'s an outright lie,\" he said.
Passero said he has used the substance, which he called a muscle rub, on horses\' legs.
\"The muscle rub they\'re accusing me of using here is no different than Whitey Ford using Ben Gay,\" Passero said.
Passero, 62, a native of Canada, was served the complaint by State Steward Walter Blum at approximately 1:30 p.m. in the horsemen\'s bookkeeper\'s office at Gulfstream. Groom Abraham Siddo, the groom who alleges Passero ordered him to apply the pepper, had been served with a complaint Saturday morning.
Passero and Siddo have 21 days from Saturday to request a formal hearing before the division to show just cause why their pari-mutuel occupational licenses should not be suspended or revoked or why they shouldn\'t be fined.
According to the complaints, Siddo and two other grooms who work for Passero were seen applying an unknown substance in or around the genitals of five horses trained by Passero between Feb. 9 and Feb. 26. The grooms were said to have been observed applying the substance by agents of the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau and investigators with the Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering. The substance was allegedly applied at Gulfstream\'s staging area, where horses are brought before going to the paddock.
