Saudi Cup, Won by Maximum Security, Puts Hold on Prize Money

Servis and Maximum Security have become favorites of horse racing enthusiasts largely because of what many thought was an unjust disqualification in America’s most famous race.

According to the indictments, however, Maximum Security was given performance-enhancing drugs, as were nearly all the horses under Servis’s control.

On Feb. 18, 2019, according to one of the indictments, Servis alerted another trainer who has been indicted, Jorge Navarro, via text message, that a racing official was in the barn area near where they kept the prohibited drugs, joint blockers and blood builders. On the same day, Navarro was overheard on a call with another defendant, saying that he would otherwise have been caught “pumping and pumping and fuming” every horse that ran that day.

On June 5, 2019, Maximum Security was drug-tested at his barn at Monmouth Park, N.J., as Servis was preparing him to run in the Pegasus Stakes. In a phone call intercepted by the authorities with one of his veterinarians, Kristian Rhein, Servis indicated that Maximum Security had received a shot of SGF-1000, a compounded drug aimed to enhance performance, the indictment said.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/sports/horse-racing/maximum-security-doping-saudi-cup.html