Gill Warned of Indictments
Nov 25, 2013 23:26:50 GMT -5
Post by Evelyn on Nov 25, 2013 23:26:50 GMT -5
Interesting. Not sure about Gill.
Penn National Flashback: Gill Warned of Indictments
by Ray Paulick
People can’t say there were no warning shots fired in advance of last week’s wire fraud charges and arrests of three trainers and a clocker at Hollywood Casino at Penn National racecourse in Grantville, Pa. The indictments and arrests of trainers Patricia Rogers, Sam Webb, and David Wells, along with clocker Danny Robertson, were part of an ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police and a federal grand jury.
Eclipse Award-winning owner Michael Gill, who is no longer in the horse business, told the Paulick Report last October that dozens of indictments could be coming. The indictments, Gill said, would involve manipulation of races, offshore gambling, collusion between trainers and test barn personnel, and embezzlement.
Winner of the 2005 Eclipse Award as outstanding and leading owner by both money and races won in 2009, Gill was banned from Penn National early in 2010 by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. He lost a lawsuit against the commission on technical grounds last year.
In May 2012, Gill issued this commentary to the Paulick Report. It may be worth a second read, in light of last week’s indictments.
Gill's statement
Gill: ‘What is more controversial than telling the truth?’
Michael Gill, the one-time Eclipse Award-winning owner who is no longer in the game, has distributed the following statement in the wake of his civil lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission and several of its employees.
An Insider’s view into horse racing
By former owner Michael Gill
My dream was always to win the Kentucky Derby; instead this has been my living nightmare. I was in horse racing for 33 years and have been told that I have had more starts and won more races than any horse owner in history. Therefore, I think this qualifies me to speak about the business.
I went into racing knowing it was a business and I believed I could be a champion. I was able to accomplish my goals because I believed they were possible. I also quickly learned that it is possible for people to be totally corrupt.
am no longer in horse racing, but I spent $51 million dollars from 1999 to 2009 on horses. I had a passion and a love for this industry. I’m no longer in horse racing so I have no motive to share my story other than the truth.
Penn National Race Track in Grantville, Pennsylvania is, like other race tracks, a closed community. When you look at it, you see nothing but locals. When the largest stable in the country moves in, it is cause for concern. They do not like cutting up their share of the pie. I made $3.1 million dollars there in 2009. More money than any owner made at any one race track that year. This was more money than next the top 15 owners at Penn National combined. So why would they want me out?
I got into Penn National when John Krulock (agent for jockeys Thomas Clifton and Willie Otero) offered me 49 stalls if I rode his Jockeys first call. I said that I would, but that I would not use Clifton as I felt he was an inferior jockey. Krulock then gave me Willie Otero to ride all my horses and then hired Dana Whitney. It was not a coincidence that it is these three jockeys that led a boycott of riding my horses in 2009.
In fact in a federal trial held last week, Michael Dillon, former Acting Executive Secretary of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission said under oath that he spoke with three jockeys about their concerns, one was Clifton and he just could not remember the other two. Even when the subject was about life and limb, he forgot. Out of the 100 jockeys I am going make a guess at the other two: Dana Whitney and Willie Otero. I’m sure they were the jockeys, Krulock’s jockeys, which was the reason for Dillon’s sudden loss of memory.
There came a time in late 2009 that I fired Willie Otero. He was pulling horses to prevent them from winning. I then asked to have Dana Whitney ride on all the horses. Krulock said that he could not do that because Dana was riding first call for my biggest competitor, Stephanie Beattie.
So Krulock had the two top racing outfits in Penn National using his jockeys. When he could not give me Dana Whitney, I fired him as an agent and the jockeys he represents. Weeks later, Otero was suspended from racing for making no effort for a horse to win. This is the exact accusation I had made when I fired him. I knew at that moment that since Krulock got me the stalls at Penn National that he could take them away.
So how did I get kicked out of Penn National? I just had 2,247 horse races without a single bad test. Those that wanted me out would have given their eyeballs to have come up with a bad test to make it easy to get rid of me. Since that wasn’t possible, Krulock turned to what he could control…the jockeys. So that is how they came at me.
You may remember reading Otero saying my horses were dangerous. What if I told you he has just given a sworn deposition, under oath, that they were never were dangerous? What jockey would know better if my horses were sound than the jockey that was riding them all? How could any other jockeys say anything if they didn’t ride them? Also, what if Otero and Jockey Clinton Potts just said under oath that they did not give anyone express permission to use their names on the jockey petition?
Let’s move on to the National Horsemen’s Benevolence & Protective Association (HBPA). This is the same organization that I have paid more money into than any other person. They have never come to my defense because they are made up of horse owners and trainers that do not want me in the industry because I am cutting up their pie. The president of HBPA at Penn National at the time was Stephanie Beattie, my biggest competitor. She was accused of shock waving horses by her foreman/boyfriend and her grooms, but wrote a letter, representing horse ownership, to the Commissioner saying I was bad for racing.
Christopher McErlean is the Vice President of Gaming at Penn National. He has commented publicly about my horses breaking down. He must have forgotten about an email he sent on January 24, 2010, just before my ejection, stating that my trainers, Adamo and Delahoussaye had 3 and 4 breakdowns respectively for the year. They raced a total of 820 times during the year. There was actually one trainer with more total breakdowns with only about 600 starts. This trainer was Stephanie Beattie. “The slippery slope is if the measurement or action taken is going to be on when this occurs, as it may also involve others who people feel are not an issue.” McErlean wrote this in his email, a copy of which I have in my possession.
Penn National knew that I had complained multiple times about the racing surface. I had raced over 1,400 starts in 2009 outside of Penn National and only had one breakdown. This was a horse that raced on the grass for the first time, slipped and clipped heals. Again, that’s seven breakdowns at Penn National with 820 starts, and one out of 1,400 starts at other tracks.
Penn National continues to be scrutinized for their unsafe track conditions. In fact in 2008, just one year before, it had fourteen fatal breakdowns in two weeks. To put this in perspective, if you combined all of the race tracks across the country you might not have fourteen fatal breakdowns collectively during a two week period. Every year the track has had major issues with breakdowns. They still had major issues two months after I left. But they blamed me, not the track.
Penn National doesn’t want you to pay attention to the horses; they want you in the casino. Want proof? Simply walk inside of the casino and then walk out back to the stables where the horses live. The barns are a disaster and the track is dangerous, but the casino is just wonderful! You tell me where Penn National is spending their money. At the time, horses stabled on the grounds did not get even a vet check before they raced. To my knowledge this was the only race track in the country where all horses didn’t get checked by a veterinarian before each race.
Penn National can’t say they are concerned about horses and jockeys when they don’t even vet check horses on their own grounds. My understanding is that they do vet check now, why didn’t they then? I offered to have the state vet at Penn National check all my horses on the grounds and at my farm, Penn National declined. Instead what I got was an anonymous phone call to the Large Animal Protection Society. They sent Gail Emerson to my farm. As reported in the Thoroughbred Times, “It was a surprise visit, and I found nothing wrong in the facility,” said Gail Emerson, a former trainer. “It was clean, and the horses were in good condition.”
All my horses were sold. The vast majority went back to Penn National. Those same complaining owners bought them, the same complaining trainers trained them and the same complaining jockeys rode them. There must have been some magical wand that was waived to make them all instantly sound. I guess miracles can happen.
The Commission’s own investigators recognized the fact that the horses were back running at Penn National and what I was saying was actually true. They then said in last week’s trial that they never accused me of having sore horses. By now it was a moot point. In fact Delahoussaye still trained and he had his other owners buy my horses that wound up back in the same stalls that they were in when I owned them a day before. It is also ironic that I was still able to race at Philadelphia Park, but not at Penn National, even though both are governed by the same Pennsylvania commission. Sore at Penn, sound at Philly?
Not convinced yet? If you think Penn National cares about jockeys and horses, why are they racing at 12:00 midnight in the middle of January instead of 12:00 noon? Do you think it is colder at midnight than at noon?
Do you think it is more likely to have a frozen track in the middle of January? Isn’t it possible it is about making money? Otherwise they would be racing during the day. They want you in the Casino at night.
Now I am going to get really insidious. Penn National has me thrown out; they knew they did not have a reason so they gave it to the Commission. They believed that the Commission had immunities that they could hide behind. They had the State of Pennsylvania do their dirty work and we learned in last week’s trial that Commission’s lawyers warned them that I could sue the Commission. So the taxpayer would take the hit. That is not what I want.
At the trial, I listened to three Commissioners (Hamm, Hannum, and Sweeney) and the Executive Secretary Dillon. I watched them go up on the witness stand, one after another saying that I had done nothing wrong. In fact they did not even investigate before or after ejecting me or Adamo, not one of them. Dillon also declared our innocence. On three occasions Dillon happily informed the court that Penn National gave him a letter telling him what a good job he was doing. He seemed to be very proud of that letter. Then it became very clear. Penn National operates under a license, as I do. They could possibly lose that license if they were operating a dangerous track. Only the Commission could take their license away. I noticed how one Commissioner after another on the stand appeared more hesitant, guarded and confused than the one before.
So, if you had a couple of Commissioners that you could manipulate, I would say it was a hell of an insurance policy and defense Attorney Augusto was the puppet master who protects the tracks and dials in the Commissioners. I noticed how they looked frequently at him for approval during trial.
You would be interested to know how little these Commissioners know about horse racing. It seems they rely heavily on reading The Blood-Horse magazine. I am not kidding, read the transcripts. No offense to The Blood-Horse magazine, but it is not ALL that these commissioners should know.
The Commission and Dillon listed three separate complaints: 1) Penn National, 2) Jockeys and 3) the HBPA. They had nothing else. I have now just introduced you to all the players.
I came into horse racing hiring the little guy and giving them an opportunity to prove themselves. Sometimes the thing that separates the haves and the have-nots is opportunity. Look back at all my years in racing and tell me this isn’t the truth. I bought horses from the big guys 90% of the time, not the little guys. I claimed horses from people that were cheating and winning races unfairly to defraud the betting public. I claimed horses for $20,000 and won for $40,000. I wasn’t doing anything special. They were cheating. Do you think the trainers would tell the owners that they lost their $40,000 claiming horse for $20,000 because they were cashing a bet offshore or would they say that Gill made it a $40,000 horse because he was cheating? What do you think?
I really tried to make a difference. I was trying to create a path to operating a successful business in the horse racing industry that I loved so that other owners could do the same. I made it possible for the trainer to make money and the owners to make money, rather than have the trainer survive by cheating the owner. Typically, trainers survive by finding a new owner before the old owner goes broke.
It was my intent to have stayed in Horse Racing the rest of my life, what better job to have than one that you love. It is journalism, like the recent New York Times article and a former ESPN interview, that have made it difficult to stay in business and impossible for me to come back by painting me as “The Most Hated Man in Racing” where I might have been the most honest.
I will finish by telling you that in the purest sense I am a competitor, I find no victory in cheating. I have spent my career defending myself from the corrupt, with their fear of you hearing me. I would not be bought and I would not be intimidated, that is a dangerous combination in horse racing.
I spent $51 million dollars in horse racing, why would I need to cheat? If someone had a better horse in the race, I would buy it. For all those concerned, you have taken your best shot at me and I am still standing. Every time I see my name it is followed by the word, controversial. Tell me this, what is more controversial than telling the truth?
Penn National Flashback: Gill Warned of Indictments
by Ray Paulick
People can’t say there were no warning shots fired in advance of last week’s wire fraud charges and arrests of three trainers and a clocker at Hollywood Casino at Penn National racecourse in Grantville, Pa. The indictments and arrests of trainers Patricia Rogers, Sam Webb, and David Wells, along with clocker Danny Robertson, were part of an ongoing criminal investigation by the FBI, Pennsylvania State Police and a federal grand jury.
Eclipse Award-winning owner Michael Gill, who is no longer in the horse business, told the Paulick Report last October that dozens of indictments could be coming. The indictments, Gill said, would involve manipulation of races, offshore gambling, collusion between trainers and test barn personnel, and embezzlement.
Winner of the 2005 Eclipse Award as outstanding and leading owner by both money and races won in 2009, Gill was banned from Penn National early in 2010 by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission. He lost a lawsuit against the commission on technical grounds last year.
In May 2012, Gill issued this commentary to the Paulick Report. It may be worth a second read, in light of last week’s indictments.
Gill's statement
Gill: ‘What is more controversial than telling the truth?’
Michael Gill, the one-time Eclipse Award-winning owner who is no longer in the game, has distributed the following statement in the wake of his civil lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission and several of its employees.
An Insider’s view into horse racing
By former owner Michael Gill
My dream was always to win the Kentucky Derby; instead this has been my living nightmare. I was in horse racing for 33 years and have been told that I have had more starts and won more races than any horse owner in history. Therefore, I think this qualifies me to speak about the business.
I went into racing knowing it was a business and I believed I could be a champion. I was able to accomplish my goals because I believed they were possible. I also quickly learned that it is possible for people to be totally corrupt.
am no longer in horse racing, but I spent $51 million dollars from 1999 to 2009 on horses. I had a passion and a love for this industry. I’m no longer in horse racing so I have no motive to share my story other than the truth.
Penn National Race Track in Grantville, Pennsylvania is, like other race tracks, a closed community. When you look at it, you see nothing but locals. When the largest stable in the country moves in, it is cause for concern. They do not like cutting up their share of the pie. I made $3.1 million dollars there in 2009. More money than any owner made at any one race track that year. This was more money than next the top 15 owners at Penn National combined. So why would they want me out?
I got into Penn National when John Krulock (agent for jockeys Thomas Clifton and Willie Otero) offered me 49 stalls if I rode his Jockeys first call. I said that I would, but that I would not use Clifton as I felt he was an inferior jockey. Krulock then gave me Willie Otero to ride all my horses and then hired Dana Whitney. It was not a coincidence that it is these three jockeys that led a boycott of riding my horses in 2009.
In fact in a federal trial held last week, Michael Dillon, former Acting Executive Secretary of the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission said under oath that he spoke with three jockeys about their concerns, one was Clifton and he just could not remember the other two. Even when the subject was about life and limb, he forgot. Out of the 100 jockeys I am going make a guess at the other two: Dana Whitney and Willie Otero. I’m sure they were the jockeys, Krulock’s jockeys, which was the reason for Dillon’s sudden loss of memory.
There came a time in late 2009 that I fired Willie Otero. He was pulling horses to prevent them from winning. I then asked to have Dana Whitney ride on all the horses. Krulock said that he could not do that because Dana was riding first call for my biggest competitor, Stephanie Beattie.
So Krulock had the two top racing outfits in Penn National using his jockeys. When he could not give me Dana Whitney, I fired him as an agent and the jockeys he represents. Weeks later, Otero was suspended from racing for making no effort for a horse to win. This is the exact accusation I had made when I fired him. I knew at that moment that since Krulock got me the stalls at Penn National that he could take them away.
So how did I get kicked out of Penn National? I just had 2,247 horse races without a single bad test. Those that wanted me out would have given their eyeballs to have come up with a bad test to make it easy to get rid of me. Since that wasn’t possible, Krulock turned to what he could control…the jockeys. So that is how they came at me.
You may remember reading Otero saying my horses were dangerous. What if I told you he has just given a sworn deposition, under oath, that they were never were dangerous? What jockey would know better if my horses were sound than the jockey that was riding them all? How could any other jockeys say anything if they didn’t ride them? Also, what if Otero and Jockey Clinton Potts just said under oath that they did not give anyone express permission to use their names on the jockey petition?
Let’s move on to the National Horsemen’s Benevolence & Protective Association (HBPA). This is the same organization that I have paid more money into than any other person. They have never come to my defense because they are made up of horse owners and trainers that do not want me in the industry because I am cutting up their pie. The president of HBPA at Penn National at the time was Stephanie Beattie, my biggest competitor. She was accused of shock waving horses by her foreman/boyfriend and her grooms, but wrote a letter, representing horse ownership, to the Commissioner saying I was bad for racing.
Christopher McErlean is the Vice President of Gaming at Penn National. He has commented publicly about my horses breaking down. He must have forgotten about an email he sent on January 24, 2010, just before my ejection, stating that my trainers, Adamo and Delahoussaye had 3 and 4 breakdowns respectively for the year. They raced a total of 820 times during the year. There was actually one trainer with more total breakdowns with only about 600 starts. This trainer was Stephanie Beattie. “The slippery slope is if the measurement or action taken is going to be on when this occurs, as it may also involve others who people feel are not an issue.” McErlean wrote this in his email, a copy of which I have in my possession.
Penn National knew that I had complained multiple times about the racing surface. I had raced over 1,400 starts in 2009 outside of Penn National and only had one breakdown. This was a horse that raced on the grass for the first time, slipped and clipped heals. Again, that’s seven breakdowns at Penn National with 820 starts, and one out of 1,400 starts at other tracks.
Penn National continues to be scrutinized for their unsafe track conditions. In fact in 2008, just one year before, it had fourteen fatal breakdowns in two weeks. To put this in perspective, if you combined all of the race tracks across the country you might not have fourteen fatal breakdowns collectively during a two week period. Every year the track has had major issues with breakdowns. They still had major issues two months after I left. But they blamed me, not the track.
Penn National doesn’t want you to pay attention to the horses; they want you in the casino. Want proof? Simply walk inside of the casino and then walk out back to the stables where the horses live. The barns are a disaster and the track is dangerous, but the casino is just wonderful! You tell me where Penn National is spending their money. At the time, horses stabled on the grounds did not get even a vet check before they raced. To my knowledge this was the only race track in the country where all horses didn’t get checked by a veterinarian before each race.
Penn National can’t say they are concerned about horses and jockeys when they don’t even vet check horses on their own grounds. My understanding is that they do vet check now, why didn’t they then? I offered to have the state vet at Penn National check all my horses on the grounds and at my farm, Penn National declined. Instead what I got was an anonymous phone call to the Large Animal Protection Society. They sent Gail Emerson to my farm. As reported in the Thoroughbred Times, “It was a surprise visit, and I found nothing wrong in the facility,” said Gail Emerson, a former trainer. “It was clean, and the horses were in good condition.”
All my horses were sold. The vast majority went back to Penn National. Those same complaining owners bought them, the same complaining trainers trained them and the same complaining jockeys rode them. There must have been some magical wand that was waived to make them all instantly sound. I guess miracles can happen.
The Commission’s own investigators recognized the fact that the horses were back running at Penn National and what I was saying was actually true. They then said in last week’s trial that they never accused me of having sore horses. By now it was a moot point. In fact Delahoussaye still trained and he had his other owners buy my horses that wound up back in the same stalls that they were in when I owned them a day before. It is also ironic that I was still able to race at Philadelphia Park, but not at Penn National, even though both are governed by the same Pennsylvania commission. Sore at Penn, sound at Philly?
Not convinced yet? If you think Penn National cares about jockeys and horses, why are they racing at 12:00 midnight in the middle of January instead of 12:00 noon? Do you think it is colder at midnight than at noon?
Do you think it is more likely to have a frozen track in the middle of January? Isn’t it possible it is about making money? Otherwise they would be racing during the day. They want you in the Casino at night.
Now I am going to get really insidious. Penn National has me thrown out; they knew they did not have a reason so they gave it to the Commission. They believed that the Commission had immunities that they could hide behind. They had the State of Pennsylvania do their dirty work and we learned in last week’s trial that Commission’s lawyers warned them that I could sue the Commission. So the taxpayer would take the hit. That is not what I want.
At the trial, I listened to three Commissioners (Hamm, Hannum, and Sweeney) and the Executive Secretary Dillon. I watched them go up on the witness stand, one after another saying that I had done nothing wrong. In fact they did not even investigate before or after ejecting me or Adamo, not one of them. Dillon also declared our innocence. On three occasions Dillon happily informed the court that Penn National gave him a letter telling him what a good job he was doing. He seemed to be very proud of that letter. Then it became very clear. Penn National operates under a license, as I do. They could possibly lose that license if they were operating a dangerous track. Only the Commission could take their license away. I noticed how one Commissioner after another on the stand appeared more hesitant, guarded and confused than the one before.
So, if you had a couple of Commissioners that you could manipulate, I would say it was a hell of an insurance policy and defense Attorney Augusto was the puppet master who protects the tracks and dials in the Commissioners. I noticed how they looked frequently at him for approval during trial.
You would be interested to know how little these Commissioners know about horse racing. It seems they rely heavily on reading The Blood-Horse magazine. I am not kidding, read the transcripts. No offense to The Blood-Horse magazine, but it is not ALL that these commissioners should know.
The Commission and Dillon listed three separate complaints: 1) Penn National, 2) Jockeys and 3) the HBPA. They had nothing else. I have now just introduced you to all the players.
I came into horse racing hiring the little guy and giving them an opportunity to prove themselves. Sometimes the thing that separates the haves and the have-nots is opportunity. Look back at all my years in racing and tell me this isn’t the truth. I bought horses from the big guys 90% of the time, not the little guys. I claimed horses from people that were cheating and winning races unfairly to defraud the betting public. I claimed horses for $20,000 and won for $40,000. I wasn’t doing anything special. They were cheating. Do you think the trainers would tell the owners that they lost their $40,000 claiming horse for $20,000 because they were cashing a bet offshore or would they say that Gill made it a $40,000 horse because he was cheating? What do you think?
I really tried to make a difference. I was trying to create a path to operating a successful business in the horse racing industry that I loved so that other owners could do the same. I made it possible for the trainer to make money and the owners to make money, rather than have the trainer survive by cheating the owner. Typically, trainers survive by finding a new owner before the old owner goes broke.
It was my intent to have stayed in Horse Racing the rest of my life, what better job to have than one that you love. It is journalism, like the recent New York Times article and a former ESPN interview, that have made it difficult to stay in business and impossible for me to come back by painting me as “The Most Hated Man in Racing” where I might have been the most honest.
I will finish by telling you that in the purest sense I am a competitor, I find no victory in cheating. I have spent my career defending myself from the corrupt, with their fear of you hearing me. I would not be bought and I would not be intimidated, that is a dangerous combination in horse racing.
I spent $51 million dollars in horse racing, why would I need to cheat? If someone had a better horse in the race, I would buy it. For all those concerned, you have taken your best shot at me and I am still standing. Every time I see my name it is followed by the word, controversial. Tell me this, what is more controversial than telling the truth?
