NY bans harness trainer Luis Pena for drug violations

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) The New York State Gaming Commission has fined harness trainer Luis Pena and banned him three years for illegally drugging horses.

State racing regulators fined Pena $343,400 fine on Monday and held him responsible for 1,717 equine drug violations.

Pena, a New Jersey-based harness horse trainer, was indefinitely suspended in 2012 after racing regulators said he illegally drugged horses in nearly 700 races.

Pena regularly raced horses in New York while stabling them in New Jersey, and officials from both states jointly reviewed veterinary records.

Racing regulators said most of the drugging involved races at Yonkers Raceway but included some at the Saratoga and Tioga harness tracks in upstate New York.

Pena never testified to deny the allegations, the commission said.