New York-based trainer Rudy Rodriguez was hauled before the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday to plead his case on why he should be licensed to saddle his 3-year-old gelding Vyjack in the May 4 Kentucky Derby.
Following a 2 1/2-hour hearing that was a mix of “confrontation, exploration and explanation,” according to his attorney, Karen Murphy, Rodriguez got his license.
A KHRC release said it was granted “on condition that Mr. Rodriguez acquire complete 24 hour surveillance, including but not limited to, video surveillance for the horse Vyjack while the horse is on Churchill Downs grounds.”
That’s not exactly the case, Murphy told The Post Wednesday.
“We’re the ones that recommended the camera, which (the commission) embraced,” Murphy said. “Whether they imposed it on us or not, we were going to put in the camera. That’s Rudy’s protocol (in his barns at Aqueduct). It’s not a burden, we’re happy to have it.’’
“There was nothing negative about (the hearing), except for the fact we were called down there and nobody else was. They have every right to explore and ask questions. The problem I have is, how do you single one trainer out and not have questions for anybody else?
“Now that (the KHRC) figured out it’s a good idea to watch Vyjack, why not watch the other 19 (Derby) horses? We hope all the horses have cameras on them.”
Rodriguez, 40, a Mexican immigrant who came to the United States is now a U.S. citizen, was a longtime jockey and exercise rider before taking out his trainer’s license in New York and other eastern states in 2010.
Since then, Rodriguez has gone from training three horses to 80, winning training titles at Aqueduct and Belmont Park. This sudden success as a trainer was just one of the subjects the KHRC’s Licensing Review Committee wanted him to explain. They also grilled him about his relationship with the banned trainer Rick Dutrow Jr., for whom Rodriguez used to work, a suspension he served as an exercise rider six years ago in New Jersey, and the positives for the anti-inflammatory medication Banamine found in three of his horses in New York.
“The KHRC was trying to lump all of this together,” Murphy said. “At one point, it was way too argumentative. Rudy’s first language is not English, but he answered every question. I thought he did a great job, they reached the right result and adopted our recommendation.”
Michael Dubb, a board member of the New York Racing Association who owns 25 horses trained by Rodriguez, spoke to the KHRC on his behalf, as did one of Kentucky’s top trainers, Louisville native Dale Romans. Vyjack – currently at the Fair Hill training center in Maryland after suffering his first defeat when he finished third in the April 6 Wood Memorial – will be stabled in Romans’ barn when he arrives at Churchill.
“He was the first man to come on the backside in the morning, and the last man to leave at night,” Romans told the commission. “He wanted to learn how to be a horse trainer. He deserves to be in the (Derby) program, and he deserves to walk over with his horse. We spend our whole lives being able to do that walk.”
Rodriguez, who recently served a 20-day suspension for two Banamine positives dating from last year, was questioned by the KHRC members about another of his horses, Majestic Marquet, who tested positive for the same medication after winning the eighth race at Aqueduct on March 10. Because the level of that test was so excessive, Murphy is “100 percent certain” that an intruder slipped into Rodriguez’ barn and ”got to” the horse.
A $50,000 reward has been put up by Rodriguez’ owners “for information leading to the identification of the person or persons who are responsible for tampering with the filly Majestic Marquet,” with fliers in English and Spanish distributed at the New York tracks listing an anonymous tip line: 877-308-8454.
Also, a private investigator who is a former NYPD detective has been hired to probe the incident, conducting interviews on the backstretch of Aqueduct. He also plans to administer polygraph tests, Murphy said.
NYRA is partly responsible for the tampering, Murphy charged, because although Rodriguez has video cameras in his main barn 6, NYRA dragged its feet on installing the cameras Rodriguez requested for barn 10, where Majestic Marquet was stabled.
Murphy said that twice this month she sent a letter to NYRA vice president of security Sidney Anthony requesting surveillance tapes and patrol logs from March 9-10, but “it’s been ignored.”