Eric Cherry responds to misconduct violations and USTA fines of $32,500
The owner and breeder is not happy with the USTA’s handling of the case and vows to cut back his involvement in the sport substantially.
by Brett Sturman
Penalties against prominent owner and breeder Eric Cherry resulting from ongoing Standardbred Research Investigative Fund (SRIF) in alliance with the United States Trotting Association (USTA) were made public last week through the USTA’s weekly Fines & Suspensions bulletin.
Totaling $32,500 in fines, charges described in the membership action included concealing co-ownership in horses with convicted felon and former trainer Nick Surick through false registrations. SRIF investigators also concluded Cherry lied to them and failed to produce records. These are charges that Cherry characterizes as misleading and, in other cases, categorically false.
Of the issues that Cherry takes with the ruling, it’s a matter of both how the investigation was conducted and how it has been reported.
Beginning with the latter, Cherry said, “It’s not stated whatsoever that the allegations are strictly related to broodmares. If you read it, it clearly gives the assumption that I’ve been messing around with racehorses, which isn’t the case at all. I even went to the USTA to ask to accurately describe what this is, and they wouldn’t even do that. That’s the part that’s misleading that makes it look like I’m a cheater, and that’s what’s turned me in a decision to begin to go in a different direction and sell most of my horses.
“If you ask anyone, no one has ever said who could own a broodmare. You don’t have to be licensed by a state to own a broodmare… I’ve owned 3,500 horses and this [involves] about six or seven where in almost all cases I had a minority share of cheap broodmares. I got out of my last one at the end of 2023 before they started the investigation and when I got out of my last mare it wasn’t even because of who I owned them with – it’s because they weren’t good.”
Cherry acknowledges he might have made mistakes, but attributes those to the sheer number of horses being maintained and notes all findings came from documentation he voluntarily provided.
“Everything they used is information that I gave them, or my bookkeeper knowingly gave them,” Cherry said. “There were small mistakes, but I don’t look at registration unless they’re in a program. And why would I? I’ve owned thousands of horses and if no one is complaining that something is wrong, I don’t look at them. And if there is an issue, I have my bookkeeper look at it, who’s been with me for 28 years.”
Asked to comment on Cherry’s allegations, Dan Leary, the USTA’s director of marketing and communications, directed HRU to both a USTA statement posted on the association’s website on Tuesday afternoon (July 22) and the investigative report on Cherry itself.
The USTA’s statement reads, in full, as follows:
“On July 15, 2025, the United States Trotting Association entered a ruling finding Eric Cherry in violation of several USTA rules and imposing fines for those violations.
“Mr. Cherry has since made public statements concerning the factual bases for the USTA’s ruling and the process by which it was reached. In response to Mr. Cherry’s public comments, the USTA is releasing the report prepared by the Special Investigative Committee that investigated Mr. Cherry, which was considered by the USTA Executive Committee in reaching a final determination on violations and sanctions in Mr. Cherry’s case.
“(Note: While the Executive Committee adopted the factual findings of the Investigative Committee, it reached different conclusions regarding the number of violations and fines to be imposed than recommended by the Investigative Committee in its Report).”
Cherry said he takes issue with what he calls a fundamental lack of industry understanding by both SRIF investigators and USTA board members who ruled in this matter.
“The investigators didn’t understand why I had different stable names and when I explained why, they didn’t believe me, accusing me of lying,” Cherry said. “The USTA doesn’t track ownership percentages either, or didn’t know that we are co-owners on horses, we’re not partners. Partners file joint tax returns and have other liabilities; co-owners own part of the same asset. But they didn’t know about difference in percentages, what it meant to be listed first in the program, they didn’t know about breeders’ awards or any of these things. They tried to find impropriety by calling my partners to make sure I paid them timely – the entire thing is just ludicrous.
“If anything, the mistake I made is that I should have refused to go forward [with the investigation] but I was so confident that I did. I’m the only one in all these investigations that didn’t use an attorney. What do I need an attorney for? I’m just saying the truth So, I handled it myself… You have people on the board making decisions that have no knowledge or skin in the game.”
The investigation into Cherry comes on the heels of the SRIF’s investigation into Pennsylvania’s Diamond Creek Farm, and that case too, focused on broodmare ownership. Cherry, along with those who spoke out following the Diamond Creek investigation, believes that the SRIF’s targeting is selective.
“What’s interesting is that when you look at who has been targeted, it’s breeders,” Cherry said. “Why aren’t they going after the people in racing?”
Intending to keep good on his word to dramatically scale back, Cherry said, “I’ve decided to [cut] way back, and you’re going to see a lot of my horses being sold. It’s a shame that after 50 years it comes to this but at the end of the day it is what it is. Me and my partners today spend $25,000 to $30,000 a day on horses. Not on buying them – just on maintaining them, and at this point why do I need this much money tied up in the game?
“I’ll still have fun but without all the aggravation. I can still breed a few but don’t need 250-plus horses anymore. Thirty would be plenty.”
Underscoring his involvement in the sport as both a leading owner and breeder, Cherry will be well represented in Saturday’s (July 26) Adios final at The Meadows. In that race, his Let It Ride Stables owns and bred presumptive race favorite Twisted Destiny, as well as being the breeder for Adios finalists Wedlock Blue Chip and Makes Sense.
