North Country Gazette

Father, Son Guilty Of Spa Raceway Horse Doping

Posted on Thursday, 28 of June , 2007 at 7:48 pm

SARATOGA SPRINGS—A father and son have admitted that they injected harness horses at Saratoga Raceway with cobra snake venom in what officials say is the first horse-doping plea in Saratoga County.

William Barrack 68, and his son, Keith, 43, of Beacon, Dutchess County, pleaded guilty to one count each of interference with a domestic animal, a felony. 

They were originally indicted on two felony counts of first degree scheming to defraud and fifth degree conspiracy in addition to misdemeanor counts.

They admitted that on Oct. 26, 2006, they injected Disco Force A with snake venom in order to improve the horse’s performance and deaden pain.  They won $900 on that race. 

On Nov. 9, 2006, they also injected Epogen with snake venom and on Nov. 3, 2006, they administered the anti bleeding drug Lasix to another horse. They won $540 in that race.

Police began an investigation after they received a tip from the track that harness horses were being doped.

The horse racing and grooming licenses of the Barracks are currently suspended and a hearing will be scheduled to decide if the licenses should be permanently revoked.  They will be sentenced on Aug. 31 and could receive five years of probation.

Three other men are also charged but their cases have not been settled.  Marc Mosher, 38, of Montgomery, Orange County; Robert Moscone, 60 of Wappingers Falls  and Carl Forrester, 31, of Lewes, Del.,  each face two misdemeanor counts of fifth degree conspiracy. They have each pleaded not guilty.

According to Saratoga County district attorney James Murphy, snake venom acts as a painkiller when injected into horses and can cause serious injury or death to the horses because their bodies don’t recognize any pain threshhold. 6-28-07