Trainer Vance Childers has been suspended for 46 months and fined $30,000 by the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU), the entity charged with enforcing the rules of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). According to a report published on the HIWU website on May 7, Childers’ sanctions stem from a possession charge for a banned substance in his tack room at Fairmount Park, as well as two presence charges for excess amounts of the banned substance testosterone in a pair of geldings, Tigger Attack and Childersattack.
Childers’ case relates to another recently adjudicated HIWU case, that of racetrack veterinarian Dr. Donald McCrosky, who, in February 2026, was suspended for a total of 24 years over nine anti-doping violations, including charges for testosterone overages in the two aforementioned geldings. Childers trained horses owned by Dr. McCrosky at Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Ill., and told HIWU that he used Dr. McCrosky as his primary veterinarian.
Childers told HIWU that his grandfather had used Dr. McCrosky’s services on the racetrack and that Childers continued relying on Dr. McCrosky when he took over the stable after the death of his grandfather in 2020.
Both geldings named in this case were bred by Dr. McCrosky and owned by his wife, Lois. While testosterone is a naturally occurring substance, levels above 100 pg/mL in geldings are considered an “Adverse Analytical Finding.”
Childersattack, who ran seventh in his first and only start on Oct. 17, 2024, had an out-of-competition blood test on Oct. 16, 2024, that returned a positive result for 579 pg/mL of testosterone. Tigger Attack, who ran fifth in an allowance on Oct. 29, 2024, had a post-race blood test that returned a testosterone level of 374 pg/mL.
In the case of Tigger Attack, Dr. McCrosky admitted to administering testosterone to the horse when told by a groom that the horse wasn’t eating well. The veterinarian told investigators that he believed administration of testosterone seven to 10 days in advance of a race would not result in a positive test.
The banned substance found in Childers’ tack room on Nov. 12, 2024, at Fairmount was in a container of a supplement called “Easywillow.” The label includes Kava Kava (also known as piper methysticum), a banned anxiolytic/anti-inflammatory substance, and testing performed by Industrial Labs confirmed the presence of methysticum.
