Indiana Trainer Suspended For 15 Years For Severely Abusing Horse

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The Indiana Horse Racing Commission (IHRC) has suspended trainer Bobby Brower for 15 years and was fined $40,000 after he was accused of severely beating a horse at an area training facility.

According to a report in the Herald Bulletin, the racing commission issued a default judgment after Brower’s attorney, Pete Sacopulos, failed to request a trial before the 20-day deadline required by the IHRC. Sacopulos argued however, that Brower should have a chance to defend himself in court because of the seriousness of the allegations.

The sentence stems from an incident that occurred in August 2016 at Pace Setter Farm in Anderson. Brower is accused of beating B ABland so severely that the horse collapsed from exhaustion. The complaint alleges that Brower continued to whip, kick, and beat the horse after it collapsed.

Brower, who did not attend the hearing, said after the incident occurred that the charges were “overblown.”

 “The incident has really been blown out of proportion,” Brower said at the time. “We trained him that day, and he slipped and fell on the wet pavement.” Brower said that the horse got up, but then fell again. At that point, Brower and people helping him began to “jump and stomp around the horse in an effort to prompt it to get up.”

In over 20 years of training, Brower has had at least 44 rulings against him, including six for “indiscriminate use of whip.”

“As I read the history of this person, I am not upset this will be a career-ending decision,” Commissioner Susie Lightle said prior to the ruling.

 

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