Commentary by Walt Rubel: Commission conflicts breed distrust

Gamblers who sit down at a casino blackjack table know the odds are slightly tilted against them, but expect the game to be fair. Gamblers who bet on horse races can’t have that same expectation.

While other sports have been touched by gambling scandals (the Black Sox of 1919 or an NBA referee caught betting on games in 2007), in horse racing gambling scandals are endemic.

It was announced last week that a horse trained by Phil D’Amato had tested positive for methamphetamine. Under the old rules, D’Amato would have been suspended. Now, there is more leniency. His attorney insists they have tracked down the source of the drug and that D’Amato is in no way responsible for the illegal substance found in his racehorse.

Trainer Bob Baffort was suspended after his horse, Medina Spirit, won the 2021 Kentucky Derby and then failed the post-race drug test. He wasn’t the first Kentucky Derby winner to later get disqualified. In 1968 Dancer’s Image surged ahead at the wire and was later found to have phenylbutazone in his system illegally.

Illegal drugs aren’t the only way to cheat. Last year a jockey at Ruidoso Downs was caught using an electric device similar to a cattle prod to jolt his racehorse.

Cheating to lose is much easier than cheating to win, but can be just as profitable. Jockeys can intentionally get caught in traffic or start their final charge a couple of seconds too late. In the 1970s a fixer named “Big Tony” Ciulla testified that he had bribed jockeys in every state that has horse racing except California.

Standing between the cheaters and the gamblers are a myriad of horse racing commissions in each state that has a racetrack. There is no uniform enforcement of the rules. When Baffort was suspended, that ruling was honored in some states, but not others.   

We have the New Mexico Racing Commission, an appointed board that wields enormous power over a multimillion dollar industry. Recent reporting by Searchlight New Mexico highlights allegations that commission members are skimming millions of dollars in race-day winnings that should rightfully go to racehorse owners.

When the owners filed a lawsuit, the commission responded by banning them from all tracks in New Mexico and prohibiting them from speaking at public meetings. In response, racing associations in Kentucky, Arizona, Ohio, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania have all banned betting on New Mexico racetracks in their states.

The story also points out clear conflicts of interest, with members of the commission having a financial stake in the same races they are charged with regulating.

A 2012 story by the New York Times exposed the obvious connection between quarterhorse races at Ruidoso Downs and Mexican drug cartels. Obvious, given that horses had names like Big Daddy Cartel, Cartel Syndicate and Cartel Mischief. 

That same year the Times did an analysis of racetracks across the country based on the frequency of racehorse injuries and deaths. Five of the seven tracks with the worst record were in New Mexico.

Horse racing in New Mexico, especially at Sunland Park, emerged from the bush leagues thanks to one horse in one race - Mine That Bird in the 2009 Kentucky Derby. But the sport is being held back by a commission that can’t be trusted.


Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected].

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