Kevin McDermott: The face of Judith Nason’s injustice

Caught in the crosshairs of one of North America’s most farcical decisions is harness racing trainer Kevin McDermott.

A man who has had a near-lifetime involvement in the sport having trained horses since the age of 23 (1990).

He’s trained grand circuit performers such as Hypnotic Blue Chip, the first-ever 1:47 pacer on Hambletonian Day. The millionaire trotter, Melady’s Monet, was good enough to receive an invite to Sweden’s premiere trotting race, the Elitloppet. He even trained the millionaire pacers, Blueridge Western and Noble Falcon while setting world records with Lookout Hanover.

McDermott has had more than 10,200-lifetime starts since he took out his license, trained 1660 wins and had 1400 second placings. This would ensure he was tested at a minimum of 3000 times throughout his illustrious career, and guess what?

Never once has he served a day in his life for flouting the rules of the industry.

In 34 years in the sport, the only rules breach he has ever encountered was a ‘dex’ positive for a minor ‘over’ in Pennsylvania in the 2010 season.

“I have taken great pride in my record and upholding the integrity of the industry which I have held close to my heart,” said McDermott.

This is a man who won the Stanley Dancer award in New Jersey for the manner in which he went about his business, connecting participants with the press, and providing newcomers to the sport with long last memories.

“I was there for people because I always had that love of harness racing.”

When the governor of the New Jersey Racing Commission, Judith Nason, overturned the appeal decision which had ruled in favour of the horseman in their case to have their 2020 ‘bute’ positives dismissed, that sentiment changed.

“It sucks, but I don’t care for the sport anymore,” he said.

For those unfamiliar with the decision that has left a relatively young and successful trainer feeling alienated and heavily cutting back his involvement, here is a brief summary.

The charges date back to the 2020 racing season when, at the onset of the calendar year, the New Jersey Administrative Code read that a phenylbutazone was “not to be administered within the 24 hours before post time for the race in which the horse is entered.”

The aforementioned group which include the likes of Marcus Melander, Brett Pelling, Kelvin Harrison were taken aback when a number of horses in their care received positive tests for the application of the product after a sudden rule change came into effect which shifted the withholding time for Bute from 24 hours to 48 hours.

According to the evidence that was ultimately put before a federal judge, no communication was made by the New Jersey Racing Commission informing horseman, the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey (SBOANJ), or licensed veterinarians of such change.

Even in the days preceding the positive tests, the publicly available information on the New Jersey Racing Commission website continued to communicate that the withholding period for the application of the product was 24 hours.

The rules in question, N.J.A.C. 13:71-23.8(f)1 and 2, prescribe a 24-hour period in the online version of the document, which is listed as up-to-date as of Dec. 4, 2023. No amendments to the section are registered since 2014.

At the appeal hearing before the judge, there was no evidence available from the NJRC to prove it had taken any formal steps to communicate with industry stakeholders about the change. The judge therefore ruled in favor of the group, which was represented by the SBOANJ, granting the appeal. The ruling was then sent back to the NJRC, which has the power to overrule the decision.

Harnesslink understands that the commissioner, Judith Nason, decided to uphold the charges as originally delivered with members of the group being sentenced to both a monetary fine and disqualification pertaining to each of the overages. Owners were also forced to pay back stakesmoney that had been won with the horses in question.

“We have been really railroaded here and I don’t think we have been given a fair shake.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about this and when I took my 15-day disqualification, I went on vacation to Florida and the longer I was there the more it began to grate me that this was just wrong.

“Judith Nason, what she did here was a total abuse of power,” he said.

It’s fair to say that McDermott’s only crime was that of complete bad luck. He happened to be using a veterinarian who believed to be following the administration rules that had not had a single amendment since 2014.

“The one thing my vet can tell you is if the withdrawal time is 24 hours, the vets are instructed to give it at 36 hours. If the withdrawal time is 48 hours, I tell them to give it at 60 hours. I never take chances when it comes to administering products like these.

“I lived in New Jersey my whole life for 55 years. When this Bute positive came about, I had my full stable of horses, which was about 25-30 in work at any time. Fran Azur was my big owner for all of those years. I had a conversation with him about not wanting to train the team anymore as a result of how I was feeling and he ended up leaving the industry as a result. This was a guy who had upwards of a dozen horses in work at any one time.

“I trained for Jeff Gural, I trained for Jason Settlemoir and all of these big owners. But when you get a positive like this, you just feel weird about everything. It hit me the wrong way because my whole life, I put so much into playing by the rules that I never served a suspension.

“I have moved out of New Jersey and up to Saratoga with my family and I kept 6-8 horses just because I do love them, but my love of the business is no longer there, it ripped my heart out of me, that’s what it did. My wife and daughter, I say this often, they love the sport even more than I do. But it hurt them deeply too and every time I read an article that would come out about the case or others, it always felt like I had done something wrong. Mentally and emotionally, it really took a toll on me.

“I don’t mind having to face the consequences and deal with the stigma if I did something wrong, but I and the rest of the group did nothing wrong,” he stated.

McDermott was complimentary of the SBOAJ and the manner in which they handled the majority of the sordid affair but felt that when it became apparent they were facing severe headwinds in getting a fair resolution, the affected parties and their hopes of justice were left blowing in the wind.

“All along they paid for our representation and lawyer fees and everything, but at the end now, I feel like they have just let it go.

“You have to understand, when I went in for my hearing with the judges that day, they pretty much apologised to me that we had to go through with it. And then they turned on their recordings and started asking the questions. To this day, the judges who were involved all still say we got railroaded and that it wasn’t fair. It’s one person who is doing all of this to us.

“When we were with our lawyers, they informed us the racing commissioners were trying to get Judith Nason to dismiss the charges and she wouldn’t have it.

“I don’t think she knows a horse has four legs and is just doing as she pleases. How do you have no positives in your whole career or the years after, but get one along with the rest of the group that week? Every trainer on this list are lifelong trainers with good reputations, not overnight sensations who come out of nowhere and have 20 horses and start winning races. It’s such a disgrace,” he said.

As for the Governor of New Jersey who to date has been a great supporter of the racing industry in the state, helping to revitalise the economic environment for breeding and racing?

He has recently vetoed a bill that would have extended annual purse subsidy payments made to new Jersey’s thoroughbred and standardbred tracks in the vicinity of $20million dollars a year.

Murphy vetoed 12 bills in all, using what is called a pocket veto. This type of voting power applies only to bills sent to the governor’s desk in the final 10 days of a legislative session.

If they are unsigned within seven days of the end of a session those bills are vetoed without being sent back to the Legislature.

All accounts of the surprising u turn of support for a bill that passed the Senate by a 35-1 margin and the Assembly by a 73-0 margin are that the recent negative press brought upon the industry by Judith Nason had little to do with it.

Given the timing, it’s hard to believe the diplomatic restraint shown by Gov. Murphy is not a coincidence. Politically, being seen to back an industry as polarising to the public as racing is a huge risk.

The recent federal indictments of numerous leading trainers and veterinarians did reprehensible damage to the social license by which this industry operates, one that hangs by a thread.

Here you have the Governor of the New Jersey Racing Commission kicking own goals to the press which further undermines the integrity of the sport and in effect, pouring even more fuel on the fire with bad publicity that could have been avoided with an ounce of common sense being applied.

Given that this can more succinctly be interpreted as a series of unfortunate events, is it a coincidence that a historical case spanning nearly four years would have its suspensions and punishments served in the weeks leading up to a possible monumental funding agreement?

Who knows, but it looks like a fish…it usually is.

“What kind of message does that send that you can fail to notify stakeholders of such a monumental rule change, a judge can rule in our favour using the available evidence, however, the Racing Commission can overturn the ruling, and to this very day, be so totally and utterly arrogant that they don’t even bother to update the only officially public available record stating the rule in which I was disqualified for,” said McDermott.

“This is a government department for crying out loud. One of their sole purposes to the sport is to maintain and uphold integrity. Where is the integrity in continuing to promote a rule that is in complete contradiction to the very one they disqualified me for? It sends an appalling message to participants and the public and will send more good people like me away than it will bring them in the gates. If it could happen to me, it could happen to any of my peers and we all deserve better given we have dedicated our lives to this industry.

“I have raced horses in New Jersey for that long that I was involved when Bruce Garland and Frank Zanzuki were the heads of the Racing Commission, and they were tough, but they were also very fair. They would have never done this to us, they would have understood there was a mistake and they would have taken care of this mess.

“I wish Governor Murphy would get involved. So many times, I was told it was going away, and it never went away because of one person and their blatant disregard for what is right,” he said.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink