Six trainers at Parx Racing have been told to remove their horses from the stable area of the Bensalem, Pa., track by May 4.
The Paulick Report has reviewed a letter to one of the trainers from Joseph J. Stathius, assistant general counsel for Parx, who said that “failure to vacate and empty your former stalls” by that date “will result in additional action by Parx Racing.” The letter did not indicate a reason for the evictions, and several trainers who spoke with the Paulick Report said they were not told why the action was being taken against them. Parx has over 200 empty stalls in its stable area, according to multiple sources.
Michael Catalano Jr., one of the trainers told to leave, said he suspects his criticism of the racing office – which he called “corrupt” – is the reason he was told to leave. “I’ve been very vocal about it for almost five years,” Catalano said. “I ran for president (of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association) in 2023 in what turned out to be a rigged election, which an independent audit says did happen. I was going to do all I could to replace the racing office to give us a fair playing field. I’ve had several meetings about it with (Parx Racing’s chief operating officer) Joe Wilson, but that fell on deaf ears. It’s much easier to get rid of people who have something to say than it is to fix the problems.
“Since I started talking about this out loud, I have, without a doubt, been punished,” the third-generation horseman said. “I’ve lost clients because their races never go. They moved their horses to another track. Their attitude is, ‘If you don’t like it, leave. That’s a quote from the racing secretary.”
Another evicted trainer, Mary Pattershall, said, “For the life of me, I can’t think of one reason (for the action).” Pattershall believes Parx management has monitored social media and did not like some of the things she posted. “I stated facts,” Pattershall said. “That’s all I did.”
The other four trainers told to vacate their stalls – Josue Arce, Patrick Ashton, Herold Whylie, and Daniel Velazquez – either could not be reached or declined to comment.
According to information supplied to the Paulick Report, the PTHA’s Live Race Agreement with Parx has a clause invoking an arbitration procedure if stall allocations are used by the track to discriminate against horsemen and women.
PTHA president Kathleen DeMasi would not comment on the evictions other than to say, “Our organization is here to represent the horsemen and we are doing all that we can.”
