The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has stayed trainer Eusebio Juarez's two-year suspension and combined $18,000 fine (including arbitration costs) handed to him in October by a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) arbitrator for possession of the banned substance diisopropylamine.
As a consequence, a further evidentiary hearing will be held. During this, Juarez will have the chance to present a witness, not present at a prior hearing, who allegedly has evidence of “significant exculpatory potential” in the case, according to FTC administrative law judge Jay L. Himes in a written order dated Dec. 2.
The case stems from a January 29 search by Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) investigators of Juarez's SUV stationed at Oaklawn Park racetrack. They found two hypodermic syringes filled with a substance later determined by laboratory analysis to contain the banned substance diisopropylamine.
Diisopropylamine is a vasodilator, which is a substance that dilates the vessels to allow blood to flow more freely through them. Diisopropylamine is also found in several everyday items like tobacco and beauty products, and hand sanitizer.
The day of the search, Juarez claimed ignorance on how the syringes got into the vehicle, positing that he had recently received the vehicle back from a repair shop and “alluded the syringes were left behind by the repair technician,” according to Himes's written order.
The following April 25, Juarez's attorney responded to HIWU's official equine anti-doping notice by advising the agency that the “'substance was intended for administration to some injured roosters' owned by Mr. Luis Terrazas, who trainer Juarez claimed is his auto-mechanic,” according to Himes's order.
At the same time, Juarez's attorney provided a “typed, unsigned, unnotarized, draft affidavit allegedly from Mr. Terrazas,” as well as “an alleged handwritten receipt for the auto repair,” according to the order.
The following is a summary from Himes's written order of Terrazas's unsigned affidavit:
“Mr. Terrazas serviced Mr. Juarez's SUV during the period January 13-28, 2025. Mr. Juarez brought his SUV to Mr. Terrazas because it 'had been repeatedly overheating.' In order to re-create and then repair the condition, Mr. Terrazas 'drove the SUV several times over the course of about one week.' During that time, he 'put the two syringes' into the console of Mr. Juarez's SUV.”
“Mr. Terrazas had obtained the two filled syringes 'from a friend' in order 'to administer the substance in both syringes to several farm animals at [his] home later that day. These animals had been gravely injured by a predator.' The syringes, however, were not used, as Mr. Terrazas's wife suggested an alternative treatment, which was successful. Mr. Terrazas never removed the two syringes from Mr. Juarez's SUV and 'never told [Mr. Juarez he] had put the syringes in the SUV console.'”
At the time of the January vehicle search, Juarez was working as an exercise rider. He has also held a trainer's license since 2023. This year, Juarez has saddled 27 winners from 126 starts, according to Equibase.
HIWU determined that Juarez's initial explanation “lacked credibility,” according to Himes's written order. He also notes that in April of last year, HIWU discovered a single syringe filled with diisopropylamine during a search of a vehicle that Juarez's wife had driven to Oaklawn Park.
In that instance, Juarez's wife had allegedly obtained the diisopropylamine to treat chickens that the couple raise, and HIWU declined to charge Juarez with any violation.
Two days before the Sept. 11 arbitration hearing for the case in question, Juarez served a pre-hearing brief which identified Terrazas as a witness. The hearing arbitrator, however, declined to allow Terrazas's testimony, describing the brief as being submitted in an “untimely” manner.
During the merits hearing, a HIWU witness testified that the syringes found “were the gauge size and needle length typically and traditionally used for intravenous injections on horses and that they were too large for use on roosters or other fowl. He further testified that the volume of diisopropylamine was inconsistent with the volume that could possibly be administered to roosters or other fowl,” according to Himes's written order.
As his only defense witness, Juarez rebutted this argument, saying that in his experience treating chickens, a large hypodermic needle could be used.
The basis of Juarez's petition for review of the arbitrator's decision was the exclusion of a “necessary defense witness” despite his prior identification of that person. Judge Himes ultimately agreed.
“When Mr. Juarez sought, belatedly, to call Mr. Terrazas as a witness at the arbitration hearing, a fair and impartial resolution of the case would have been better assured not by excluding him,” Himes writes in his order. “Therefore, to the extent provided below, I will direct an evidentiary hearing at which Mr. Terrazas may testify.”
No date has yet been scheduled for that evidentiary hearing.
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