LOS ANGELES — Trainer Dan Blacker was suspended 90 days and fined $15,000 for 527 violations of the California Horse Racing Board rule that says a horse must be inspected by a veterinarian no more than 72 hours before conducting a workout.

Since the suspension was more than 60 days, Blacker must move all of his horses to other trainers and remove any signage at his barn at Santa Anita. The suspension was scheduled to run from Feb. 26 to May 25.

Darrell Vienna, Blacker's attorney, filed an appeal and request for a stay on the penalties Tuesday but did not comment beyond that.

While 527 is a huge number, it underscored an additional problem, that the CHRB had a rule that it couldn't enforce because it didn't have the resources to easily identify horses that did not have the required examination before a workout. Blacker's violations were only discovered after a routine investigation into the death of Animae, an unraced 2-year-old filly who was euthanized after sustaining injuries to her pelvis and vertebrae during a workout on July 1.

CHRB investigator Steve Manila determined that Animae did not have an exam before three of her four workouts, including the one in which she broke down. Manila then looked at all of the workouts under Blacker between Jan. 1, 2022, and July 1, 2023, and found there was no exam in 527 of the 789 official workouts, which is a timed high-speed drill of varying distances.

The day after The Los Angeles Times published a story about Blacker's violations and the CHRB's inability to enforce rule 1878, the CHRB contracted with InCompass Solutions, which developed the reporting software, to come up with a fix that would simplify the process. The updated software has been in use for a couple of months, according to Scott Chaney, executive director of the CHRB.

Blacker, who runs a stable generally between 25 to 35 horses, had three fatalities since 2012 and none between 2014 and 2022. Dr. Jeff Blea, equine medical director of the CHRB, said it was impossible to determine if a veterinary exam of Animae could have detected if anything was wrong. There was nothing unusual in the necropsy.

Though Vienna would not share his reasons or strategy for an appeal, an examination of the stewards' hearing transcript pointed to some areas that could be at the center of their argument.

Based on the questions asked, Vienna tried to show that if the CHRB had been following its own enforcement rules this would have been a minor issue that could have resulted in a nominal fine and no suspension.

Dr. Timothy Grande, chief official veterinarian of the CHRB, testified in a steward's hearing on Nov. 15 that if a trainer had committed a violation shortly after the rule went into effect, the consequences would have been minimal.

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