Another ‘Trace’ Cocaine Positive In A Charles Town Winner Deemed ‘Inadvertent Exposure’

[Wandering Eyes]

The stewards at Charles Town Races on Wednesday issued a ruling that will not impose penalties against the licensure of trainer Curtis Bass after deeming that a “trace level” of a cocaine metabolite detected in a $5,000 claiming mare who won Apr. 10 was the result of “inadvertent exposure” to that drug.

It's the second time in eight months that the Charles Town stewards have made that type of  determination on a cocaine positive, disqualifying the winning horse but not penalizing the trainer.

Although West Virginia's Thoroughbred medication testing and enforcement is not currently subject to oversight by the Horseracing and Safety Integrity Act (HISA) and the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) because of a preliminary injunction that is in effect while a lawsuit against HISA plays out in federal court, the May 7 ruling is similar to how HIWU dropped pursuit of two cocaine metabolite positives in 2023 when appropriate testing specifications for cocaine metabolites in blood were not fully standardized.

Under HISA and HIWU rules, benzoylecgonine, the main metabolite of the human street drug cocaine, is a “banned” substance that is never to be present in any covered horse at any time.

As per West Virginia's rules, benzoylecgonine is a Class 1 drug, carrying a Category A penalty (the most severe classifications), for which no acceptable threshold concentration has been established by the West Virginia Racing Commission.

After benzoylecgonine was detected in Crafty Windsor Cat (Windsor Castle)'s blood subsequent to the 6-year-old mare's 4 1/2-length wiring in a 4 1/2-furlong sprint Apr. 10, Bass waived his right to a hearing and elected not to test a split sample.

The ruling described that although the Charles Town stewards concluded “that while Mr. Bass is responsible for the positive in Crafty Windsor Cat [and] the presence of the drug has been established to have been in the horse during the ninth race on Apr. 10, 2025, there are mitigating factors which cause the Stewards to impose no penalty against Mr. Bass' permit in this matter…

“Mr. Bass' past record as a permit holder is good in that he has never had a medication violation in any jurisdiction since his first license in 2018.

“The amount of benzoylecgonine found in the horse is a trace level which lends credibility to the probability that the horse was inadvertently exposed to the drug in some manner.

“Based upon an evaluation of the evidence, the Stewards conclude that the positive is attributable to inadvertent exposure.

“There is no reason to believe that Mr. Bass knew of or caused the drug to be administered to the horse…

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“Weighing and balancing these factors, the Board of Stewards find that while Mr. Bass is held responsible for the positive in this case, the Stewards shall impose no penalty against Mr. Bass' permit.

“Therefore, the standard penalty for a first offense Class A medication violation (one-year suspension/$10,000.00 fine) is not imposed in this matter. In addition, the Stewards do not impose the 6 Multiple Medication Violation points that would typically be imposed,” the ruling stated

Bass, 62, has an 0-for-17 training record this year.

Tamera Bass, the mare's owner, was ordered to forfeit the winning purse, and the order of finish was revised by disqualifying Crafty Windsor Cat to last.

In September 2024, the Charles Town stewards utilized nearly verbatim language in a ruling adjudicating the cocaine case of a horse trained by Justin Nixon.

Back in November 2023, HIWU issued a press release that stated, “Recently, Covered Horses trained by Keri Brion and R. McLane Hendriks tested positive for [the cocaine metabolite] in blood. While controls in urine for [benzoylecgonine] have long been established, no corresponding testing specifications existed for blood.

“These circumstances prompted HIWU to lift each trainer's Provisional Suspension and review scientific literature to determine appropriate testing specifications for blood such that it would correspond to existing controls in urine…. As a result of this investigation, HIWU concluded that the levels of [cocaine metabolite] detected in the blood samples for Hendriks' and Brion's horses will not be pursued as Adverse Analytical Findings,” the release stated.

All four cocaine positives (the two under HIWU's jurisdiction in 2023 and the two in West Virginia in 2024 and 2025) involved detections via blood samples, although the Charles Town stewards' ruling from 2024 noted that urine testing was also utilized in Nixon's case.

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