Earlier this month, the Maryland Jockey Club (MJC) expelled Claudio Gonzalez, who was the leading trainer in Maryland for six consecutive years (2017-2022), from Laurel Park for violating the track’s policy against “directly or indirectly participat[ing] in the transport of a horse from an MJC facility to either a slaughterhouse or an auction house engaged in selling horses for slaughter.”
Gonzalez maintains his innocence.
Bev Strauss, founder of MidAtlantic Horse Rescue, told the Paulick Report that a former Gonzalez trainee was found at a kill pen in Kansas and re-homed. She also said that four other former Gonzalez trainees were also re-routed from “questionable” homes to MidAtlantic Horse Rescue.
Since 2008, Laurel Park’s stall application form has said: “Any trainer or owner stabling at a MJC facility who directly or indirectly participates in the transport of a horse from a MJC facility to either a slaughterhouse or an auction house engaged in selling horses for slaughter will be prohibited from having stalls at any MJC facility. The policy also applies to any actions related to the transport of a horse from a MJC facility where the ultimate intended result is a horse’s slaughter.”
The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) told a recent meeting of the Maryland Horse Industry Board (MHIB) that MDA plans to support legislation in the 2026 session of the Maryland General Assembly that would codify the policy at Laurel Park into Maryland’s criminal code. If that legislation were to pass, then trainers at Laurel Park who directly or indirectly cause a horse to be transported for the purpose of slaughter would face criminal charges in addition to being banned from the track.
The Equiery will report on the proposed anti-slaughter legislation once it has been filed.
