Trainer Chris Oakes changes plea to guilty

Bill Finley of the Thoroughbred Daily News reports that disgraced harness trainer Christopher Oakes, who had close ties to Jorge Navarro, changed his plea to guilty Tuesday when appearing before federal judge Mary Kay Vyskocil via teleconference. In doing so, Oakes became the 10th person among the original 27 indicted in March 2020 for their role in a widespread scheme to use performance-enhancing drugs on Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds to enter a guilty plea.

Oakes, 57, pled guilty to one count of misbranding and drug adulteration with intent to defraud or deceive and faces up to three years in prison. He will be sentenced Feb. 17.

When asked by Vyskocil what he had done that made him guilty to the crimes he has been charged with, Oakes replied, “I purchased medications from Dr. Seth Fishman and Dr. Gregor Skelton and his assistant Ross Cohen and administered the medications to the horses in my care to gain an unfair advantage.”

Fishman, Skelton and Cohen are drug distributors also among the 27 indicted last year

Vyskocil went on to ask Oakes if he raced in New York. Oakes replied that he raced at Yonkers Raceway and admitted that he used the drugs on his horses that raced there.

Vyskocil then asked Oakes why he gave the drugs to his horses. He answered, “To try to get an advantage and, hopefully, things would do better.”

Oakes said the doping routine he had described began in early 2019 and concluded with his arrest in March, 2020.

To read the rest of Bill Finley’s story, click here.