In a bizarre and possibly precedent setting decision reached by the connections of both horses and ratified by the Director of the Pennsylvania Racing Commission, Miss Inclusive and Eighth Wonder were named co-winners of last year's Parx Oaks, the eighth race held on May 7, 2016.
Miss Inclusive - Parx OaksMain Line Racing Stable and Joshtylane Farm's Miss Inclusive, trained by John Servis and ridden by Joshua Navarro, won the race by 1/2 length, with Gryphon Investments LLC's Eighth Wonder, trained by Curry Dee and ridden by Jose Flores, second.
Everest Stables Inc.'s Little Cyclone, trained by Edward Coletti Jr. and ridden by Angel Castillo, was third, and Albert R Lupcho Jr.'s Spitfire, trained by Marcos Zulueta and ridden by Anthony Salgado, finished fourth.
When Miss Inclusive tested positive for the bronchial dilator clenbuterol, the Parx stewards disqualified her and moved the second, third and fourth placed horses into first, second and third, which gave each of them black type for that race.
But Servis' lawyer Adrian King argued successfully that the positive was below the threshold recommended by the Racing and Medication Testing Commission.
According to the Paulick Report, that settlement eliminated the disqualification of Miss Inclusive, allowed Miss Inclusive and Eighth Wonder to be named co-winners, allowed Eighth Wonder, Little Cyclone and Spitfire to retain the purse money they had been awarded without any purse money going to Miss Inclusive and rescinded the suspension handed down to Servis, instead fining him.
According to Russell Jones, a member of the Pennsylvania Racing Commission, the full Commission never heard the case.
Jones said the agreement had been reached by the connections of Miss Inclusive and Eighth Wonder and that Tom Chukas, the director of thoroughbred racing who works for the Commission and has been given the power to make routine decisions, ratified the agreement, making it official.
How this will come to affect future disqualifications is yet to be seen.
The usual result of a disqualification is the reassignment of the top three horses and all purse monies.
