Navarro, Servis, et al. Indictment - Pace and Cap

mick · 03-09-2020, 11:14 AM

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr...56656/download

Just filed by the U. S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of NY.

elocutionist · 03-09-2020, 12:42 PM

I just read the whole indictment. This is a terrible black eye for horse racing, but I'm not at all surprised. I wonder what the fallout will be for the sport.

tleusin · 03-09-2020, 01:00 PM

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.co...doping-scheme/

Mitch44 · 03-09-2020, 03:53 PM

I have always wondered why tracks or labs weren't testing for new drugs etc. Even without a specific test for a specific substance a test should show a foreign substance even if unidentified, which is a violation. No it seems the track owners - officials etc. are just as guilty for ignoring the problem and can't claim ignorance of the circumstances. Essentially their condoning of the situation is the same as the violations themselves.

These investigations of informants, tapped phone etc. is something that should of taken place many years ago. Racing will survive but will be bloodied up pretty badly. The lack of concern and condoning leaves it needing several blood transfusions rather than one.

Wherever there is large sums of money involved someone is always looking for ways to cheat, steal etc. Racing is no different than banks, stock market, lottery etc.

This will cause many to be scared straight and reverse the game back to some norms. I suppose there will be numerous form reversals in the meantime. We the cappers and punters on the receiving end get it coming and going.

Onward,

Mitch44

dlivery · 03-09-2020, 08:37 PM

I will raise you two corona beers

omar · 03-10-2020, 05:03 AM

Now you see Servis and Max Security's true colors. I've been telling you all along I didn't believe in this horse and now I feel vindicated. Why am I not surprised? Most crooks will go for the big price on a horse race fix but apparently he's gone for the big purse bucks and stud fees. Sheer arrogance feeling he'll never get caught. His big mistake was running him in a 16 mcl race to begin with instead of a msw. He raised a lot of eyebrows bumping him up to Gr 1 company and never looking back. I don't believe the horse was juiced until that Florida derby race. When your're the lone speed in a race you're supposed to win off by yourself but in that race he beat the 2nd horse by a lot who in turn beat the rest of the field by a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if both of those horses were drugged. Don't forget the 2nd horse was 71-1 under a 7-1 shot. To me that race never looked right and it still doesn't. Maidens should not be allowed in grade 1 races period.....! When something doesn't look right to me I question it. For you newbies who were born in the eighties or later, I was at the track back in 1976 or 1977, either Aqu or Belmont, i forget. i'm looking at the form for the last race of the day and i see this horse who ran last or next to last in all of his 10 pp's at odds of 60-1 or higher EXCEPT for his last race where he went off at 10-1 odds and still ran last. I'm talking finishing no closer than 20 lengths in all of his races. On that day the horse goes off at 50-1. This was a rock bottom claiming race on the grass. And i'm looking and looking to see if i could find the reason why a horse like that would go off at low odds in the last. I could not and on that one angle alone i almost bet this horse wps but instead i passed the race. I stood by the monitor and watched the race. This horse had 20 lengths lead on the rest of the field going into the far turn and never came back to the field and won by 20+ lengths. This horse looked like the 2nd coming of Secretariat, i kid you not. This horse was not drugged either. The only problem was the horse listed in the form, i forget his name , was not the horse who ran that day. The real name of the horse who won was CINZANO, the trainer was Morgan and the owner was Bernie Taub and the vet was in on the scam too. That's right, they killed their real horse and put in a ringer. I heard from a reliable source that worked on the backstretch that the trainer had a falling out with his girlfriend. He made her believe they were going with the horse the race before and it was her money that caused the horse to come down to 10-1. When the horse won at 50-1 she went to the track authorities and spilled the beans. Look it up online. I never believed the official story about a photographer in South America who saw a photograph of the horse in the winners circle in the age of no computers or internet and called authorities.. When something doesn't look right it usually isn't.

Mitch44 · 03-10-2020, 09:22 AM

The reason Max Sec ran in a Md. 16,00 clm. was he had a conformation problem which he grew out of as he grew older.

There are those trainers that also are not that good and make mistakes everyday in placing their horses. Smart trainers take advantage and prey on poor trainers, also their mistakes in the claiming game. In higher type races you see similar changes when there is a change of trainers.

Any horse placed at a rock bottom claiming or the lowest class it has ever raced at is subject to jump up and win.

Today because of a shortage of horses and too many tracks, races are carded for horses that years ago couldn't win a claiming 3,000 race and their careers would be over. They have become creative with conditions to fill races and a days card. Such as NW1L where its not uncommon to see horses with 20 or more starts and be 6 or 7 years old.

Even the best trainers have flaws such as Mott who primarily is a turf trainer but when he finally listen to his exercise rider to run the horse on dirt improved dramatically. Forget the horse's name but Lt1 can recall this. Point is trainers have flaws, even the best of them make mistakes.Cigar was another who finally switched surfaces and climbed the class ladder to become a G1 unbeatable horse.

But to think these are the only two trainers in this game violating the rules is pure ineptness. The real blame lies with tracks etc. for not enforcing the rules and turning a blinds eye to fill races to keep the operation going.

Talk about a form reversal how about the surprise last Sat at SA in the G1 SA Hcp. when Combatant jumps up and wins. And much lower than his odds should have been. He never even won a G3 or a stake race before. He switched from Asmussen to Sadler who improved the horse with Blinkers on. Now does a top trainer like Asmussen make those kind of mistakes or did Sadler work some other magic? Fact is we may never know one way or the other. I believe personally it was B on and Asmussen made a huge mistake. Others who lost may argue it was juiced. Such is life.

While many argue the game is fixed or much more of this is going on, my view is sure there is some but not to the extent many would have us believe. In most cases there are reasons for form reversals. Anyone who that dosen't believe this needs to get out of the game. Wherever there are large sums of money involved the crooks are there. Just the nature of any beast.

Also to think that all form reversals are a result of drugging is foolhardy. Hell for all we know Secretariat may have been drugged in the Belmont when he won off at such a large margin, after all the TC and huge stud fees were at stake.

As far as Max Sec it all remains to be seen and how it shakes out. Perhaps a new trainer etc. could prove this than again he may be retired or the Dubai factor may succumb him to never be the same again, as it did with many others. Fact is until and if Servis comes clean we may never know which races he was tampered with.

I'm just glad they were finally nabbed. Those in charge must do a better job to clean up the game for its survival.

Mitch44

mick · 03-11-2020, 09:47 AM

This is from DRF. I thought Graham Motion and Mark Casse's comments were interesting.

https://www.drf.com/news/navarro-ser...piracy-charges

omar · 03-11-2020, 12:08 PM

I guess Servis and Navarro are not veterinarians after all but I guess they really did play ones in real life! Look, horse racing for the most part is honest. The mistake they all made was twofold. FIRST they all shared the same brain and Second they skipped the chapter in the playbook that states if you repeatedly do the same thing over and over somebody is gonna read your moves and nail you to the wall. I never believed in this horse and I still say this was the worst bunch of 3yos since 1970 when Judgeable ran.
One more point about the Tampa Bay Derby. If you look at this horses workouts he did it strictly on the dirt at GP. All his 5f works were 59 and change and before his last 3 races they gave him a slow 4f work. What I noticed this past year at GP was that horses that started on the grass for 2 or 3 races and then switched to dirt won or just missed at price after price, just the opposite for what horseplayers are looking for. This applies only to 2 and 3yos.My problem was I'm lazy, meaning CoachT tells me to look the night before at the race. 99 % of the time I don't handicap the night before, never did never will again. Even if I'm playing horizontally, I wait for scratches before I even look. I don't like doing double work on a race. So I looked the night before and didn't give the 11 a line, I figured I'd look before the race. Problem was I got tired, looked fast at my ratings, sat back on my bed and bet on my phone. Later that night going over the race, regression handicapping, I realized I didn't give him a line, when I did he was my top PBS horse in a race that figured to be won by a E or EP horse. So you see I'm guilty of being a lazy schmuck and cost myself a lot of money because I played the 7 1 3 4 and 5 in the race. Onward Christian soldier to the Rebel Stakes.

tom · 03-11-2020, 12:28 PM

So, as bettors, what is our plan of action?
Do we go along handicapping races, making bets, or do we perceive a change coming as the multitude of unindicted cheaters out there suddenly stop the drugging and the PPS no longer represent what the horses can really do?

Myself, I am taking a vacation from betting for a while until I see how trainer win% data changes........Do we see guys going from 40% to 14%? Do we see guys going from 9% to 15%, as they are no longer being buried by the drugs?
Do the late odds changes stop, or slow down?

We might be playing a brand new game that did not exist last week.

03-09-2020, 11:14 AM	#1
mick Abiding Student Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 711	Navarro, Servis, et al. Indictment https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr...56656/download Just filed by the U. S. Attorney's office in the Southern District of NY. __________________ mick Illustrated Glossary

03-09-2020, 08:37 PM	#5
dlivery Grade 1 Join Date: May 2009 Location: Thornhill ON Posts: 437	I will raise you two corona beers __________________ May all wagers be Winners...

03-11-2020, 09:47 AM	#8
mick Abiding Student Join Date: May 2016 Posts: 711	This is from DRF. I thought Graham Motion and Mark Casse's comments were interesting. https://www.drf.com/news/navarro-ser...piracy-charges __________________ mick Illustrated Glossary

03-11-2020, 12:08 PM	#9
omar Grade 1 Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 377	I guess Servis and Navarro are not veterinarians after all but I guess they really did play ones in real life! Look, horse racing for the most part is honest. The mistake they all made was twofold. FIRST they all shared the same brain and Second they skipped the chapter in the playbook that states if you repeatedly do the same thing over and over somebody is gonna read your moves and nail you to the wall. I never believed in this horse and I still say this was the worst bunch of 3yos since 1970 when Judgeable ran. One more point about the Tampa Bay Derby. If you look at this horses workouts he did it strictly on the dirt at GP. All his 5f works were 59 and change and before his last 3 races they gave him a slow 4f work. What I noticed this past year at GP was that horses that started on the grass for 2 or 3 races and then switched to dirt won or just missed at price after price, just the opposite for what horseplayers are looking for. This applies only to 2 and 3yos.My problem was I'm lazy, meaning CoachT tells me to look the night before at the race. 99 % of the time I don't handicap the night before, never did never will again. Even if I'm playing horizontally, I wait for scratches before I even look. I don't like doing double work on a race. So I looked the night before and didn't give the 11 a line, I figured I'd look before the race. Problem was I got tired, looked fast at my ratings, sat back on my bed and bet on my phone. Later that night going over the race, regression handicapping, I realized I didn't give him a line, when I did he was my top PBS horse in a race that figured to be won by a E or EP horse. So you see I'm guilty of being a lazy schmuck and cost myself a lot of money because I played the 7 1 3 4 and 5 in the race. Onward Christian soldier to the Rebel Stakes. Last edited by omar; 03-11-2020 at 12:22 PM.

03-09-2020, 12:42 PM	#2
elocutionist Grade 3 Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 60	I just read the whole indictment. This is a terrible black eye for horse racing, but I'm not at all surprised. I wonder what the fallout will be for the sport.

03-09-2020, 01:00 PM	#3
tleusin Grade 1 Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 113	https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.co...doping-scheme/

03-09-2020, 03:53 PM	#4
Mitch44 Grade 1 Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: The Villages, Fl. Posts: 3,705	I have always wondered why tracks or labs weren't testing for new drugs etc. Even without a specific test for a specific substance a test should show a foreign substance even if unidentified, which is a violation. No it seems the track owners - officials etc. are just as guilty for ignoring the problem and can't claim ignorance of the circumstances. Essentially their condoning of the situation is the same as the violations themselves. These investigations of informants, tapped phone etc. is something that should of taken place many years ago. Racing will survive but will be bloodied up pretty badly. The lack of concern and condoning leaves it needing several blood transfusions rather than one. Wherever there is large sums of money involved someone is always looking for ways to cheat, steal etc. Racing is no different than banks, stock market, lottery etc. This will cause many to be scared straight and reverse the game back to some norms. I suppose there will be numerous form reversals in the meantime. We the cappers and punters on the receiving end get it coming and going. Onward, Mitch44

03-10-2020, 05:03 AM	#6
omar Grade 1 Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 377	Now you see Servis and Max Security's true colors. I've been telling you all along I didn't believe in this horse and now I feel vindicated. Why am I not surprised? Most crooks will go for the big price on a horse race fix but apparently he's gone for the big purse bucks and stud fees. Sheer arrogance feeling he'll never get caught. His big mistake was running him in a 16 mcl race to begin with instead of a msw. He raised a lot of eyebrows bumping him up to Gr 1 company and never looking back. I don't believe the horse was juiced until that Florida derby race. When your're the lone speed in a race you're supposed to win off by yourself but in that race he beat the 2nd horse by a lot who in turn beat the rest of the field by a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if both of those horses were drugged. Don't forget the 2nd horse was 71-1 under a 7-1 shot. To me that race never looked right and it still doesn't. Maidens should not be allowed in grade 1 races period.....! When something doesn't look right to me I question it. For you newbies who were born in the eighties or later, I was at the track back in 1976 or 1977, either Aqu or Belmont, i forget. i'm looking at the form for the last race of the day and i see this horse who ran last or next to last in all of his 10 pp's at odds of 60-1 or higher EXCEPT for his last race where he went off at 10-1 odds and still ran last. I'm talking finishing no closer than 20 lengths in all of his races. On that day the horse goes off at 50-1. This was a rock bottom claiming race on the grass. And i'm looking and looking to see if i could find the reason why a horse like that would go off at low odds in the last. I could not and on that one angle alone i almost bet this horse wps but instead i passed the race. I stood by the monitor and watched the race. This horse had 20 lengths lead on the rest of the field going into the far turn and never came back to the field and won by 20+ lengths. This horse looked like the 2nd coming of Secretariat, i kid you not. This horse was not drugged either. The only problem was the horse listed in the form, i forget his name , was not the horse who ran that day. The real name of the horse who won was CINZANO, the trainer was Morgan and the owner was Bernie Taub and the vet was in on the scam too. That's right, they killed their real horse and put in a ringer. I heard from a reliable source that worked on the backstretch that the trainer had a falling out with his girlfriend. He made her believe they were going with the horse the race before and it was her money that caused the horse to come down to 10-1. When the horse won at 50-1 she went to the track authorities and spilled the beans. Look it up online. I never believed the official story about a photographer in South America who saw a photograph of the horse in the winners circle in the age of no computers or internet and called authorities.. When something doesn't look right it usually isn't.

03-10-2020, 09:22 AM	#7
Mitch44 Grade 1 Join Date: Nov 2014 Location: The Villages, Fl. Posts: 3,705	The reason Max Sec ran in a Md. 16,00 clm. was he had a conformation problem which he grew out of as he grew older. There are those trainers that also are not that good and make mistakes everyday in placing their horses. Smart trainers take advantage and prey on poor trainers, also their mistakes in the claiming game. In higher type races you see similar changes when there is a change of trainers. Any horse placed at a rock bottom claiming or the lowest class it has ever raced at is subject to jump up and win. Today because of a shortage of horses and too many tracks, races are carded for horses that years ago couldn't win a claiming 3,000 race and their careers would be over. They have become creative with conditions to fill races and a days card. Such as NW1L where its not uncommon to see horses with 20 or more starts and be 6 or 7 years old. Even the best trainers have flaws such as Mott who primarily is a turf trainer but when he finally listen to his exercise rider to run the horse on dirt improved dramatically. Forget the horse's name but Lt1 can recall this. Point is trainers have flaws, even the best of them make mistakes.Cigar was another who finally switched surfaces and climbed the class ladder to become a G1 unbeatable horse. But to think these are the only two trainers in this game violating the rules is pure ineptness. The real blame lies with tracks etc. for not enforcing the rules and turning a blinds eye to fill races to keep the operation going. Talk about a form reversal how about the surprise last Sat at SA in the G1 SA Hcp. when Combatant jumps up and wins. And much lower than his odds should have been. He never even won a G3 or a stake race before. He switched from Asmussen to Sadler who improved the horse with Blinkers on. Now does a top trainer like Asmussen make those kind of mistakes or did Sadler work some other magic? Fact is we may never know one way or the other. I believe personally it was B on and Asmussen made a huge mistake. Others who lost may argue it was juiced. Such is life. While many argue the game is fixed or much more of this is going on, my view is sure there is some but not to the extent many would have us believe. In most cases there are reasons for form reversals. Anyone who that dosen't believe this needs to get out of the game. Wherever there are large sums of money involved the crooks are there. Just the nature of any beast. Also to think that all form reversals are a result of drugging is foolhardy. Hell for all we know Secretariat may have been drugged in the Belmont when he won off at such a large margin, after all the TC and huge stud fees were at stake. As far as Max Sec it all remains to be seen and how it shakes out. Perhaps a new trainer etc. could prove this than again he may be retired or the Dubai factor may succumb him to never be the same again, as it did with many others. Fact is until and if Servis comes clean we may never know which races he was tampered with. I'm just glad they were finally nabbed. Those in charge must do a better job to clean up the game for its survival. Mitch44

03-11-2020, 12:28 PM	#10
tom Grade 1 Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 644	So, as bettors, what is our plan of action? Do we go along handicapping races, making bets, or do we perceive a change coming as the multitude of unindicted cheaters out there suddenly stop the drugging and the PPS no longer represent what the horses can really do? Myself, I am taking a vacation from betting for a while until I see how trainer win% data changes........Do we see guys going from 40% to 14%? Do we see guys going from 9% to 15%, as they are no longer being buried by the drugs? Do the late odds changes stop, or slow down? We might be playing a brand new game that did not exist last week.