Owner of 2-time P.E.I. champion calls doping allegations against horse trainer 'nauseating'

The owner of the horse that won Atlantic Canada's most prestigious harness racing title in each of the past two years is speaking out against his former trainer, who's embroiled in a drug scandal. 

Mark Ford is no stranger to harness racing in Prince Edward Island and across North America. The U.S.-based horseman owns Covered Bridge, winner of the Gold Cup and Saucer finals in both 2023 and 2024. 

The horse's trainer, Jeff Gillis, was recently suspended from his work for 10 years by racing commissions in Ontario and Atlantic Canada after it was revealed he was part of an investigation into illegal performance-enhancing drugs. 

Ford told CBC News he's been a client of Gillis for many years, and he was "very upset and disappointed" to learn about his alleged activities. 

"There's no explaining any of the actions. I knew nothing about it," Ford said from his training facility in upstate New York on Tuesday. 

"I was dumbfounded and it puts me in a very embarrassing situation…. It's nauseating, it really is." 

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."

Based in the Guelph, Ont. area, Gillis is a successful trainer whose stables have won millions in purses over the years, according to his biography on the Woodbine website.

But the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has said 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 U.S. Attorney's Office for the southern district of New York said on its website. 

'No monkey business'

Ford said Tuesday that most people in the harness-racing community knew of the investigation into Fishman's dealings, but said he learned of Gillis's alleged involvement only when AGCO announced this week that it was issuing its suspension. 

"It's just sickening, and it's even more sickening when it hits this close to home," Ford said. 

The AGCO suspension states that any horses that were trained by Gillis would be ineligible to race, but can be sold or released to another trainer in good standing with the commission. 

Ford said he believes Covered Bridge would fall into that category, and stressed that the horse never tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs following his two Gold Cup wins or at any other time. 

Despite the fact that Fishman's drugs are "untestable," Ford said elite horses like Covered Bridge wouldn't have been able to sustain racing on performance enhancers for as long as he did.  

"They raced every week at high-end levels for years. I mean, generally, juiced-up horses don't do that," he said. 

"I would be very confident that, no, there was no monkey business going on."