A racetrack veterinarian has been banned from racing after the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit (HIWU) pursued cases against him and 13 trainers in connection with what HISA called a “conspiracy” to “evade HISA rules designed to protect and enhance the health and safety of horses and riders.”
A HISA press release described how an investigation led by the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission (“PSHRC”) revealed that the veterinarian “allegedly conspired with the implicated trainer from May 2023 through November 2024 to administer intra-articular injections to the joints of [racehorses] within the prohibited stand-down periods, in direct violation” of HISA rules.
In February, 2025, HISA issued to the veterinarian a Notice of Violation, charging him with performing intra-articular (joint) injections to racehorses at the track “to mask the effects or signs of injury so as to allow training or racing to the detriment of the [horses’] health and welfare.” Investigators reported that the veterinarian was, on multiple occasions, observed performing joint injections in racetrack stabling areas. The Notice of Violation also charged the veterinarian with failing to report treatments in violation of HISA rules.
The Notice of Violation, which is publicly available through HISA’s online portal, includes a 17-page “Investigative Progress Report” produced by the PSHRC with detailed notes of investigator interviews with trainers and the veterinarian himself. In one statement to investigators, the veterinarian admitted that the trainers asked him to perform the injections but would ask him “to say that he only drained their horse’s joints.” When the investigators asked the veterinarian “why he was protecting these trainers by [referring to the treatments as joint draining] he stated that it was because he liked them and considered them friends.”
At least one trainer told the investigators a different story, explaining that he had never requested the veterinarian inject a horse and relied on the veterinarian’s advice and “knowledge of the rules” as to the propriety and timing of the joint injections. The trainer admitted that he had three horses in his stable receive intra-articular injections on twelve separate occasions, and that none of these treatments were reported to the PSHRC as required, and on most occasions the horse in question was entered to race at the time of the injections and, in fact, raced thereafter. The trainer stated to investigators that “his horses did not come up with a bad test because [the veterinarian] was not using steroids.”
On May 7, 2025, the veterinarian entered into an “Agreed Order” acknowledging that he had “reviewed the evidence against him that supports the Charges with his counsel and that his interests are best served by accepting the penalty offered by the Authority.” The agreed upon penalty was that his registration with the Authority be “permanently suspended for the remainder of his lifetime.” As a result, the veterinarian “shall be prohibited from participating in any capacity in any activity involving [racehorses], or in any other activity taking place at a Racetrack or Training Facility, or from permitting anyone to participate in any capacity on his behalf in any such activities.”
The HISA charges resolved by the May 7, 2025 “Agreed Order” do not resolve charges that might be issued by the HIWU.
HISA v. Dr. Allen Post Bonnell, Case No. 2025-03251
