#US RACING: Trainer Kathy Walsh suspended, fined for use of acepromazine

Trainer Kathy Walsh has entered into a settlement agreement with the California Horse Racing Board in which she has been fined $3,000 and suspended 30 days after one of her horses tested positive for promazine sulfoxide, a metabolite of acepromazine, after a summer race at Los Alamitos Race Course.

Under the agreement, which appeared on the Association of Racing Commissioners International website, $1,500 and 23 days of the suspension are stayed during a year's probation. She may not have any class 1, 2, or 3 medication violations.

The horse that tested positive, Git On Your Pulpit, was disqualified from second in a maiden $20,000 claiming race at Los Alamitos June 28 for owners Marietta Gelalich and Walsh. The 6-year-old Lucky Pulpit gelding has raced three times since for Walsh as owner and trainer, winning a 1,000-yard maiden race at Los Alamitos Jan. 22.

Acepromazine is a commonly used tranquilizer with fractious horses.  A 48-hour withdrawal guideline for acepromazine is suggested before racing in many jurisdictions.

The CHRB considers acepromazine in drug class 3 and penalty class B.

Walsh is a multiple graded stakes-winning trainer whose career highlights include top-level victories from Nany's Sweep in the 2001 Santa Monica Handicap (G1) and Georgie Boy in the 2007 Del Mar Futurity (G1). Her horses have won 1,231 races and more than $19 million in earnings over a career spanning back to 1970. Her horses made only six starts in 2020.