ANDERSON, IN – The Indiana Horse Racing Commission handed down a career-ending sentence to a local harness racing trainer accused of severely beating a horse at a local training facility.
“As I read the history of this person, I am not upset this will be a career-ending decision,” Commissioner Susie Lightle said ahead of the vote.
A default judgment was issued without a trial because Brower’s attorney, Pete Sacopulos, failed to request a hearing, as per IHRC rules. Sacopulos argued Brower should have a chance to defend himself in court because of the seriousness of the allegations.
He also said he was under the impression that entering a plea of not-guilty acted as the request for a trial, and the case shouldn’t be decided on a “technicality.”
“(Brower) is facing a career-ending penalty,” Sacopulos said at the hearing. “This is a fellow who has spent his whole life in horse racing.”
Vice Chairman Greg Schenkel argued the seriousness of the charges should have prompted Sacopulos to be more careful in acting as attorney.
“Obviously this is a very serious matter and I would think both parties would make certain their I's were dotted and their T's were crossed,” he said.
The sentence stems from an incident in August 2016 in which Brower is accused of beating a horse, B ABland, to the point the horse suffered injury and soon collapsed from exhaustion, according to the complaint filed by the commission. The complaint alleges that Brower continued to whip, kick and beat the horse after it collapsed.
The incident allegedly occurred at Pace Setter Farm, 3682 E. 150S, Anderson, where Brower rents a stall.
After the incident in August, Brower said the charges were overblown.
"The incident has really been blown out of proportion," Brower said. "We trained him that day, and he slipped and fell on the wet pavement."
Brower said the horse was whipped once in the rear and got up but fell down again. At that point, Brower said, he and others assisting him began to jump and stomp around the horse in an effort to prompt it to get up.
"A horse will just lay there and hurt itself," Brower said.
In his more than 20 years of horse racing, Brower has at least 44 rulings by the Indiana Horse Racing Commission, including six for "indiscriminate use of whip," with at least one for whipping a horse after a race. He was cited in 2013 for failure to properly control a horse by "whipping the horse’s head from side to side," according to the complaint.
Brower did not attend Tuesday’s meeting and did not return multiple calls for comment.
Sacopulos said he wasn’t surprised by Tuesday’s verdict.
“I think it is a disappointing decision, but not unexpected,” he said.
Reprinted with permission from the heraldbulletin.com