Wesley Ward Suspended 30 Days Over Positive Test For Diabetes Drug

Trainer Wesley Ward has been fined $500 and suspended for 30 days by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission due to his trainee Averly Jane testing positive for metformin in the $150,000 Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs on April 28, 2021.

According to medlineplus.gov, metformin (a Class B drug) is used to treat type 2 diabetes by decreasing the amount of glucose absorbed from food and the amount of glucose made by the liver; it also increases the body’s response to insulin. Metformin has been examined in several studies regarding equine metabolic syndrome.

Fifteen days of the suspension have been stayed by the commission due to mitigating circumstances (number of violations in relation to overall
record), provided Ward does not have an additional Class A or B positive during the next 365 days. The dates Ward will serve are Jan. 26 through Feb. 9, inclusive.

“It’s the fifth-most dispensed drug in the United States for diabetes,” Ward told the Daily Racing Form. “It was four nanograms. It’s just a shame. I don’t know how it got into the horse’s system, and it obviously didn’t make her run faster.”

Ward also told DRF that a shipping company employee informed him he has taken metformin twice a day for 30 years to manage his diabetes. Ward and attorney Darrell Vienna argued in a hearing with the KHRC that the case was environmental contamination, but Ward told DRF he respects the final decision of the stewards.

Averly Jane has been disqualified from her victory in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes and purse money forfeited, moving Vodka N Water (Steve Asmussen) into first. The filly’s record includes two additional stakes wins in 2021, the Skidmore at Saratoga and the Indian Summer at Keeneland, before she finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.