Trainer fined $100K fine by Nevada regulators for illegally drugging race horses

For the second time in three months, gaming regulators have issued greater penalties against a horse trainer than recommended by the state racing steward for the illegal drugging of horses that ran in rural Nevada county fair races.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board on Wednesday ruled that horse trainer Ricardo Castillo be fined $100,000, have his Nevada horse racing license revoked and that he be banned from racing in the state for 15 years.

State Horse Racing Steward Doug Ray imposed the maximum penalty of a $1,000 fine and a 180-day suspension against Castillo, the trainer for horses Bnb Hasta La Luna, Famous Prizes, Dr. B and Bnb Lightning McQueen, on races run at the Elko County Fair.

Castillo appealed the decision, meaning the board could modify the punishment decided by the steward.

Castillo did not attend Wednesday’s meeting, but told the steward that he had no idea how the illegal substances were injected into the horses.

According to the steward and Control Board agent Andrew Olsen, the four horses trained by Castillo won races Aug. 24, two races Aug. 31 and Sept. 2, but following the races the winners were routinely tested for doping.

Blood and urine tests indicated the four horses tested positively for illegal narcotics methamphetamine and amphetamine and two of the horses were positive for Tramadol.

When debating the penalties, board members noted that horses running with illegal drugs in their systems posed a danger to the jockeys, the horses themselves and other horses in the race, as well as to the integrity of gambling on horse racing. Control Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick said the injection of illegal drugs into the horses constituted animal cruelty.

When analyzing the penalties, board member George Assad initially suggested a fine of $100,000 per race and a five-year ban per race, but ultimately the board compromised on a $25,000 fine per race and a total ban of 15 years.

The prize purses were redistributed to other horses in three of the four races. Olsen said the Elko Fair Board inadvertently paid the owner of one of the illegally run horses. That board is pursuing recovery of the prize money to redistribute to the winning horses.

Olsen said the disciplinary action would be reported to other states so that they, too, would likely ban Castillo from participating in racing elsewhere.

It was the second time Nevada regulators acted to increase punishment in rural Nevada horse racing.

The Control Board took similar action for the first time in state history in April. After a Control Board recommendation, the Nevada Gaming Commission voted 4-0 to fine trainer Alvaro Torres $5,000 and to ban him from racing in Nevada for five years.

Ray determined that in the second race of the Aug. 24 Elko County Fair Board races in Elko, the No. 6 horse trained by Torres, won the race and its $7,000 purse. The horse was submitted for drug testing, a routine procedure for the winner.

Despite some of the horse racing violations reported by the state steward, board members earlier in the meeting recommended the setting of horse racing meets in Ely and Elko, a summertime tradition for the rural Nevada communities.

The Nevada Gaming Commission is expected to consider final approval of racing at its June 26 meeting. Approvals were recommended for Agriculture District No. 13 in Ely Aug. 15-17 and for the Elko County Fair Board Aug. 22 through Sept. 1 over the Labor Day weekend.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.