The disgraced trainer pleaded guilty and is the latest to go down in a series of horsedoping trials brought by the federal government against 32 individuals.

by Robert Gearty

Maximum Security’s trainer Jason Servis was sentenced to four years in prison on Wednesday (July 26) as part of the government’s sweeping crackdown on horse doping at racetracks across the country.

The sentence handed down in U.S. District Court in New York was the maximum that Servis could have received. He pleaded guilty in December to two crimes, a felony and a misdemeanor, for violating misbranding laws regarding his use of a compound chemical called SGF-1000, the bronchodilator clenbuterol and of a more potent version of clenbuterol.

Servis, a 66-year-old resident of Jupiter, FL, was sentenced to three years for the felony and one year for the misdemeanor. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ordered the sentences to run consecutively.

Servis, wearing a suit and tie, stood at the defense table as the sentence was imposed. He offered no reaction as his attorney Rita Glavin stood next to him with her hand on his shoulder.

Vyskocil rejected Glavin’s argument that Servis’ conduct was not as bad as other trainers snared in the doping case. She contended those trainers admitted to using more potent illegal drugs that were more dangerous to horses.

Indeed, Vyskocil said even four years might not be long enough given Servis’ prominence in the horse racing industry. Four years was the most she could impose, however.

“In my judgement, more than a 48-month sentence might be more appropriate,” the judge said.

The government announced the horse doping crackdown in March 2020. Charges were brought against 32 individuals including 13 trainers and seven veterinarians. Servis is the 21st person sentenced to prison.

Vyskocil said Servis sent owners bills disguising the use of SGF-1000 as “acupuncture and chiropractic.” Prosecutors say SGF-1000 was an injectable drug compounded and manufactured in unregistered facilities that contained growth factors to make horses run faster.

“You chose to do that,” the judge told Servis. “Nobody tricked you into doing that.”

Vyskocil said when New York State troopers interviewed Servis, he lied when he said he gave SGF-1000 to only four or five horses.

She said he had admitted that virtually all the horses in his stables had been given the substance, including Maximum Security who was the first place finisher in 2019 Kentucky Derby (Grade 1) at Churchill Downs but was disqualified for jockey interference during the running of the race.

The judge said Servis administered clenbuterol to horses without a prescription and in violation of racing rules.

She also said Servis obtained the more potent clenbuterol from “notorious juicer” Jorge Navarro, a New Jersey trainer who was a co-defendant with Servis in the case. Navarro was sentenced to five years in prison in 2021.

Vyskocil quoted from a wiretap in which Servis told his assistant trainer that he had to keep Maximum Security on the clenbuterol he got from Navarro.

“Then you lied to Maximum Security’s owner,” the judge said, quoting from an email exchange Servis had with the owner Gary West before the running of the $20 million Saudi Cup in the Middle East in February 2020, just a month before his arrest.

Maximum Security won that race. Shortly after Servis’ arrest, Saudi Cup officials announced that the winning purse of the Saudi Cup was being withheld pending an investigation.

“Just an FYI, Max has never been on anything out of the ordinary,” Servis told West.

She also quoted West as begging Servis not to give Maximum Security anything that would risk a disqualification in the Saudi Cup.

The email chain was made public last week as an exhibit to a government sentencing submission.

The chain begins with West telling Servis to “consult whoever you need to consult to be 100 per cent certain we don’t have any kind of accidental drug violation. If you have to feed Max just hay and organic carrots for a month before the race, do that too!!!”

West then said, “I would feel horrible to win a life-changing race like this for everyone only to find out we didn’t do something right because we didn’t know. I will gladly pay for any reasonable consulting work we need to have done to be sure we are ‘squeaky clean’ for the race.”

After Servis responded that the horse was never on anything illegal, West said in response, “That is great but ‘over there’ they might consider a ‘sugar cube’ illegal. I am not smart enough to know.”

“Instead, you gave the horse illegal performance-enhancing drugs,” Vyskocil told Servis.

Prosecutor Sarah Mortazavi urged the judge to sentence Servis to more than three years in prison but less than the max.

Glavin appealed for a sentence of less than three years.

“We are disappointed in the sentence, particularly because both probation and the government recommended a lesser sentence than what was imposed,” Glavin said after court. “Our view remains that Mr. Servis’ criminal conduct was less egregious than other trainers who received lesser sentences.

“Mr. Servis is deeply remorseful and he remains eternally grateful to the many owners, colleagues and friends who, along with his family, provided him with unwavering support throughout this ordeal.”

Invited on Wednesday to address the court, Servis broke down in tears but then declined an offer to take a break.

When he composed himself, he said to Vyskocil, “No words can express how remorseful and sorry I am for the decisions I’ve made and the hurt I caused my wife, my two sons and others in my family.”

Vyskocil ordered Servis to forfeit $311,760 and to pay restitution in the amount of $163,932. She also ordered him to pay a $30,000 fine.

Servis remains free on bail until he reports to prison Nov. 1.

He brought his wife of 45 years, Natalie, and two sons to court with him. Also present were the girlfriends of the two sons and a long-time neighbor.

Servis also submitted 37 letters of support some of them from horse owners, including Joseph Imbesi and Dennis Drazin.

Drazin, chairman and CEO of Darby Development, operator of Monmouth Park, wrote that it was “noteworthy to consider that there was widespread use of SGF-1000 amongst trainers and vets in this country before New York Racing put a warning on it overnight in September 2019.”

Mortazavi told the judge Servis was not acting in good faith when he used SGF-1000 on his horses.

“He continued to use it up to the time of his arrest, knowing regulators had prohibited it,” she said.

She said that Servis in the defense sentencing memo “spent a considerable amount of time throwing veterinarians under the bus.”

Servis had maintained that the vets who worked for him had advised him that SGF-1000 was legal.

Mortazavi said the defense argument that none of Servis’ horses tested positive for clenbuterol just “shows how hard it is to catch someone who is cheating.”

Glavin told Vyskocil the clenbuterol from Navarro was inexcusable and her client knows that.

“The remorse he feels cannot be expressed for what it has cost him,” she said.

“He didn’t shock with a shock machine. He didn’t milkshake,” Glavin added.

“We submit there is a qualified difference compared to what other trainers were involved in and what they did which was beyond the pale,” the lawyer said.

Glavin also blamed Navarro for Servis’ trouble.

“The greatest regret in his life is that Navarro ended up in the barn next to his,” she said. Servis and Navarro had barns next to each other for years at Monmouth Park.

After imposing the sentence Vyskocil again addressed Servis.

“I do accept your several expressions of remorse,” the judge said. “Relatively speaking, you are not an old man. You will have a life after you get out of prison.”

To which Servis replied, “Thank you.”

Equibase records indicate Servis won 1,306 races from 5,281 starts over a career that began in 2001. His stable earned a then-best $4.9 million in 2017 before growing in subsequent years and exploding to $11 million in 2019.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, issued a statement following the sentencing praising the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation New York Field Office’s Eurasian Organized Crime Task Force and its support of the Bureau’s Integrity in Sports and Gaming Initiative in its handling the horse-doping scheme.

“Today’s sentence sends a clear signal to those in the racehorse industry that no one is above the law,” Williams said. “Endangering the welfare of animals for profit will not be tolerated. Illegally doping racehorses is a serious crime that will be met with a serious sentence.”