from Thoroughbred Times:

Stewards at Lone Star Park suspended leading trainer Steve Asmussen for six months and fined him $1,500 on Thursday for a lidocaine positive in 2008. Asmussen immediately appealed the decision.

The stewards scheduled the suspension for July 20 through January 15. Karen Murphy, Asmussen’s attorney, said she filed an appeal with the Texas Racing Commission and requested an administrative stay that she expected would be granted on Thursday afternoon.

Murphy said the process going forward is for the commission to assign an administrative law judge to hear the case again.

“The problem is that the burden has now shifted to us,” Murphy said. “It’s a hearing that we have to establish that the stewards were clearly in error when they found guilt and assessed the penalty. That’s an unusually tough road to hoe.”

Murphy was frustrated by the stewards’ decision to not seek quantitative data of the amount of lidocaine that was allegedly in Timber Trick’s system when she won a maiden race at Lone Star on May 10, 2008. Texas has a zero-tolerance policy for any drugs that are banned for racing. Timber Trick was disqualified.

“The stewards certainly could have ordered [additional data],” Murphy said. “They had full authority from my reading of the law and my reading of the guidelines. They said they didn’t have the authority to order anything. It’s shocking to me. I can’t imagine why the stewards wouldn’t want the information.

“It suggests that they don’t really see themselves as adjudicators. That’s what we were doing there. It should start in that room and it should end in that room.”

Asmussen, who served concurrent six-month suspensions in 2006 and early ’07 for a mepivacaine violation in Louisiana and an acepromazine violation in New Mexico, has denied administering lidocaine to Timber Trick.

The 2008 Eclipse Award winner as outstanding trainer, Asmussen leads the nation in wins and earnings by wide margins in ’09, and his barn boasts star filly Rachel Alexandra.

__________________
www.DiscreetPicks.com