Ontario horse trainer suspended 10 years for buying performance-enhancing drugs: AGCO

A Guelph, Ont.-area standardbred horse trainer has been suspended for 10 years and fined $40,000 after and investigation by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) revealed he purchased performance-enhancing drugs.

Jeffrey Gillis was part of an investigation led by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, which saw 27 horse trainers, veterinarians, and others being charged "with offences relating to the systematic shipment and administration of illegal performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) to racehorses competing across multiple jurisdictions."

When reached by phone on Monday, Gillis said he had no comment at this time about the suspension.

Gillis is a successful trainer who has worked at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto and Woodbine Mohawk Park in Campbellville, west of Toronto. His biography on the Woodbine website lists a number of wins and purse earnings from 2003 onwards.

Some of his achievements included in 2010 when he saw $2,910,315 in purse earnings and 2013, which marked the fifth consecutive season Gillis' stable earned more than $1 million.

In 2020, he won an O'Brien Award for training the award-winning trotting mare Hey Livvy. Standardbred Canada says the O'Brien Awards "celebrate the absolute best in harness racing over a given year. They are the highest honour the sport bestows upon its heroes in this country."

He also trained Covered Bridge, which won the Gold Cup and Saucer — Atlantic Canada's most prestigious harness race — twice, in 2023 and 2024. The race is held at Red Shores Racetrack in Charlottetown, P.E.I.

Link to convicted U.S. veterinarian

The AGCO says records show Gillis purchased illegal drugs, including "a substance held out to be an illegal, blood-boosting synthetic erythropoietin" from U.S.-based veterinarian Seth Fishman.

Fishman was sentenced to 11 years in prison in July 2022 for making "untestable" performance enhancing drugs, the United States Attorney's Office for the southern district of New York says on its website. The attorney's office said in a release at the time of his sentencing that Fishman had worked for nearly 20 years in "peddling dozens of unsafe and untested drugs that purported to have performance-enhancing effects on racehorses."

"Fishman created and marketed these drugs as "untestable" under typical anti-doping drug screens and extolled the virtues of these illegal drugs by describing his method of creating customized products for individual customers in order to silo product lines to reduce the likelihood that detection of doping by trainer would undermine the remainder of Fishman's corrupt clientele," the office said.

The AGCO says Gillis purchased or attempted to purchase drugs from Fishman multiple times between Oct. 14, 2018 and June 27, 2019.

As part of the AGCO ruling, all horses owned in whole or in part by Gillis are not eligible to race for 10 years. Any horses trained by Gillis are currently ineligible to race, however with the consent of the AGCO, they could be released to another trainer in good standing or sold.

Karin Schnarr, registrar and CEO of the AGCO, said in a release this kind of behaviour will not be tolerated in Ontario's horse racing industry.

"This case underscores our unwavering commitment to protecting the integrity of the sport and the welfare of horses. Any attempt to cheat the system and use performance-enhancing drugs is a serious breach of trust and the AGCO will hold offenders accountable," Schnarr said.

The United States Trotting Association announced on Saturday it had been notified of the sanctions against Gillis and will enforce "reciprocal disciplinary action."

"This action reflects the [association's] unwavering commitment to a clean sport, horse welfare, and public trust," a media release said.

The Atlantic Provinces Harness Racing Commission (APHRC) issued a similar statement by email, saying it also has a 10-year suspension policy for the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

"Given the reciprocal agreement in place with the AGCO, the APHRC will uphold and enforce the sanctions imposed on Mr. Gillis," the commission said.

The commission added it takes the matters "extremely seriously" and noted all winning horses are subject to routine, unannounced post-race testing. That included Covered Bridge at the the Gold Cup and Saucer and it was noted, "all samples collected from [Covered Bridge] tested negative for banned or performance-enhancing substances."

"While this situation is disappointing, it reinforces the importance of a strong regulatory framework and consistent enforcement," the commission said.