Chris Oakes expected to plead guilty next week

Bloodhorse.com has reported on Tuesday, Oct. 12 that indicted harness racing trainer Chris Oakes, allegedly captured on federal wiretaps conspiring with Thoroughbred trainer Jorge Navarro to give performance-enhancing drugs to racehorses, is expected to enter a guilty plea Oct. 20 in a U.S. District Court on charges related to purchasing, selling, and distributing PEDs.

Oakes and Navarro were among two dozen individuals charged in the horse-doping case, from which numerous convictions have taken place as guilty pleas have been entered over the past few months. Navarro faces up to five years in prison after entering his guilty plea in the Southern District of New York, where he acknowledged to U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil that he administered and directed others to administer non-approved, misbranded, and adulterated drugs to his horses.

Court documents say Oakes also will come before Vyskocil during the change-of-plea hearing scheduled Oct. 20.

The government claims Oakes directly assisted Navarro. Prosecutors allege Oakes purchased, resold, and distributed products supplied by veterinarian Seth Fishman, and also manufactured his own customized, misbranded PED that he boasted was undetectable in drug tests.

In one intercepted telephone conversation, Navarro allegedly told Oakes to give a PED to Navarro’s star sprinter X Y Jet  before the horse ran and won an allowance optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park Feb. 13, 2019. Navarro told Oakes to lie, if necessary, to gain access to the barn area.