The Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit has issued trainer Patricia Farro a four-year suspension after two of her runners tested positive for cobalt salts. The Pennsylvania-based Farro, a trainer of 30 years, has since been serving a period of ineligibility in which the horses were removed from her barn and given to other trainers.
Cobalt salts fall into the erythropoiesis category and are listed as S2 on the HISA list of banned substances. The substance is believed to stimulate red blood cell production as a performance enhancer.
The first Farro trainee to fail a post-race sample was Deplane , who won a claiming race Feb. 6 at Parx Racing. At the same track Feb. 28, Knockout Win was found with cobalt salts in his system after capturing a maiden claiming contest. Both runners have been disqualified and the combined purse earnings of $33,600 have been forfeited; the horses are each ineligible for a six-month period beginning the day of the failed postrace test. Additionally, Farro was ordered by HIWU to pay $50,000 in fines.
Farro became the third Parx Racing-based trainer suspended for cobalt salts under the HIWU rules. Recently, Monte Gelrod was suspended 18 months and fined $12,500 when his charge Ratifed failed a postrace test for cobalt salts Feb. 19 at Parx, and trainer Mario A. Dominguez is currently serving out a two-year suspension following a positive in a May 24, 2023, race.
The trainer of more than 1,900 winners, Farro was inducted into the Parx Racing Hall of Fame in 2021.
It remains unknown whether Farro will appeal the HIWU’s final decision.
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