Judge Dismisses Fired Hawthorne Vet’s Whistleblower Claims that Alleged Conspiracy to race Unsound Horses

[Wandering Eyes]

A judge has dismissed federal claims in a lawsuit filed last year by a former Hawthorne Race Course association veterinarian who alleged that her efforts to scratch over 80 lame or injured Thoroughbreds during 2022-23 were met with a purported conspiracy among track employees, other veterinarians, and state regulators to overturn her actions so unsound horses could be entered to fill short-field races.

Dr. Christine Tuma had also claimed in United States District Court (Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division) that when she reported this alleged conspiracy to state and federal regulators, she was fired “in retaliation for blowing the whistle on the illegal activities.”

Tuma's Sept. 12, 2024, civil complaint centered on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to try and collect damages.

RICO is a sweeping 1970 federal statute initially designed to combat the Mafia. But RICO has long since lost its “organized crime” stigma, evolving over the decades into a civil litigation component more often asserted by purported victims of white-collar crime.

Hawthorne management had denied the allegations when the complaint first got filed, and last November asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit based on the contention that Tuma's case did not meet the standards for RICO claims and because her allegations fell “well short of alleging conduct of an enterprise or a pattern of racketing.”

In a July 25, 2025, opinion and order, United States District Judge Jeffrey Cummings agreed with Hawthorne and other defendants, dismissing Tuma's federal claims and relinquishing jurisdiction over her remaining state law claims related to the Illinois Whistleblower Act, common law retaliatory discharge, and civil conspiracy.

The judge dismissed Tuma's federal claims “without prejudice,” explaining in the order that Tuma can refile an amended complaint with the federal court by Aug. 15 “to the extent she can do so consistent with this Memorandum Opinion and Order.”

An attorney for Tuma, Haskell Garfinkel, responded to TDN's request for comment with an email that noted that although the judge dismissed some of the claims against Hawthorne and the other defendants on “procedural grounds,” the court made “no finding on the underlying merits of the case or the allegations made by Dr. Tuma.”

Emails sent Monday morning by TDN to two attorneys representing Hawthorne did not yield replies prior to the late-afternoon deadline for this story.

In addition to Hawthorne as a business entity, the Illinois Racing Board (IRB) was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, as were track employees Jim Miller (director of racing), John Walsh (assistant general manager) and Dave White (racing secretary). Other defendants were Dawn Folker-Calderon, the IRB's chief state vet; two state stewards, Thomas Kelley and John Eddy, plus Beth Beuchler, a vet employed by Hawthorne.

Tuma's lawsuit stated that because of the alleged conspiracy, she “suffered loss of income, benefits, career opportunities, humiliation, and emotional distress.”

She sought judgment against the defendants “for actual damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages [and] treble damages.”

The lawsuit stated that, “It was during the fall meeting in 2022 that Dr. Tuma uncovered the full extent of the illegal running of sick and lame horses. On or around the same time, Dr. Tuma uncovered and began investigating alterations of the medical records of these horses.”

Tuma's complaint stated that, “The entry of these horses into regulated Illinois races was not only a means for the RICO Defendants to induce wagers on horses that were not legally qualified to run, but in numerous instances, the certification of an additional horse in a race allowed the Enterprise to run races that did not meet the legally mandated minimum number of entries required to run a wagered race under Illinois law.”

Over the course of 48 pages, Tuma's complaint detailed how her assessments of horses as “scratch lame” had allegedly been tampered with by Calderon and Beuchler and changed to “racing sound,” the indication that the horse was fit to run, or to the less-severe “scratch sick” designation that is supposed to indicate temporary illness.

When Tuma expressed her concerns about the scratch process to Calderon, she was allegedly told, “This is how it's always done.”

Tuma's lawsuit stated that owners and trainers began to complain about her high number of scratch assessments, including one horseman who allegedly “caused a horse to lurch menacingly at her, threatening grave bodily harm.” Another time, the suit contended, a groom “physically battered her.”

The suit stated that when Tuma reported these alleged incidents of abuse to track officials and the stewards, “only a nominal fine was levied against the perpetrators.”

When Tuma began making a series of complaints to the stewards about the “misclassification of horses as sick from lame,” she was informed by Calderon “that she had been stripped of her authority to scratch horses,” and that a new protocol requiring Beuchler to check her assessments would be in place, the suit stated.

 

On March 20, 2023, Tuma's suit stated that she “delivered a comprehensive whistleblower letter” to the IRB and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA).

The suit continued: “On or around the date Dr. Tuma submitted her comprehensive complaint to the IRB, Miller, who had theretofore never called Dr. Tuma directly on her cell phone, called her a minimum of six times to intimidate her about her lame scratches and to ensure that the maximum number of horses were run.”

Some 3 ½ months later, the suit stated, just 48 hours before HISA personnel were scheduled to visit Hawthorne for an inspection, “Dr. Tuma met with Walsh via Zoom on July 11, 2023, and was informed that she had been terminated based on the pretext that her termination was a cost-cutting measure.”

But the judge's order last Friday stated that, “Tuma's alleged severe emotional distress and harm to her professional reputation is not an injury to business or property for the purposes of a civil RICO claim.”

Cummings wrote that “even presuming that Tuma's loss of her job was an injury to her business or property for civil RICO purposes, she has failed to allege that this injury was directly caused by the alleged racketeering activity.”

The judge continued, focusing on the RICO claims:

“Three out of the four alleged predicate acts have nothing to do with Tuma's termination,” the order stated. “Plaintiff appears to implicitly agree as her Complaint states that the RICO defendants committed wire fraud 'when they agreed to and engaged in a scheme to defraud bettors and regulators' and to 'induce bettors to wager on [the race-ineligible] horses, thereby depriving the bettors of their money and increasing the funds obtained by the Enterprise…'

“The wire fraud as alleged was therefore aimed at defrauding bettors and regulators, not Tuma,” the judge wrote.

“The same goes for the predicate acts of operating an illegal gambling business in violation of federal law and illegal gambling in violation of state law, both of which are premised on the same actions as those described in relation to the wire fraud allegations,” the order stated.

“Tuma fails to establish that these predicate acts directly caused her firing. The Court's conclusion is not a close call. The Supreme Court has repeatedly emphasized the importance of a direct relation between the injury asserted and the conduct alleged,” the judge wrote.

“Furthermore, the Court cannot ascertain any group's ascertainable damages here. The Complaint is devoid of information relating to whether (1) people actually placed wagers on the supposedly ineligible horses; (2) the ineligible horses' performance; or (3) the amount of money wagered and lost.

“As it stands, Tuma merely alleges in a conclusory fashion that the defendants' conduct of promoting sick horses to race 'goes well beyond mere disagreements with [her] professional opinions,' and without any support, this does not create an injury,” the order stated.

“Tuma provides two examples of horses she assessed as lame, but that nonetheless raced,” the judge explained. “The horses (Imagine Gold and Dastardly Deeds) finished second and third in their respective races despite Tuma's 'lame' assessment.

“Tuma likens the horses' positive performance to professional athletes 'playing through the pain,' such as Peyton Manning's performance during the Denver Bronco's 2016 Super Bowl win despite neck issues that ultimately required surgery, and Tiger Woods' 2008 U.S. Open win despite a torn ACL and leg stress fractures,” the order stated.

“However, these examples undercut Tuma's Complaint: anyone who bet on the Broncos in the 2016 Super Bowl or on Tiger Woods in the 2008 U.S. Open would have won money and not lost money,” the order stated.

“Moreover, if the Court takes as true-as Tuma alleges-that lame horses such as Imagine Gold and Dastardly Deeds may nonetheless perform well enough to place or show, then it must logically conclude that purportedly 'defrauded' bettors may win money despite placing wagers on ineligible horses,” the order stated.

The judge next addressed Tuma's fourth predicate act, which was premised on alleged actions deemed unlawful by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which makes it a federal offense to knowingly retaliate against anyone for providing truthful information to a law enforcement officer related to the commission or possible commission of any federal offense.

“Again, here, Tuma alleges that she complained of defendants' RICO activity to Dr. Mary Scollay, Chief of Science at the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU) on Dec. 4, 2022, who then referred the matter to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA),” the order stated.

“Tuma also delivered a 'comprehensive whistleblower letter' letter to both HISA and the IRB on March 20, 2023, describing: (a) unauthorized modifications to horses' medical records; (b) inappropriate/fraudulent transactions between trainers and veterinarians; and (c) failure to comply with operating protocol and procedure; and 'was explicit' that 'an investigation must ensue,'” the order stated.

“Tuma argues that HISA qualifies as a law enforcement agency because it is authorized to ensure compliance with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act. Defendants disagree and argue that HISA merely assists the Federal Trade Commission in its enforcement of [the Act],” the order stated.

“The Court agrees that Tuma's letter to HISA and her complaint to Dr. Scollay at HIWU do not constitute communications 'to a law enforcement officer' for the purposes of establishing a RICO predicate act,” the judge wrote.

“In sum: Tuma's damage-her employment termination (and 'severe emotional distress resulting in physical injuries and harm to her professional reputation,')-does not directly flow from the alleged predicate acts of wire fraud, illegal gambling, and operating an

illegal gambling business. She fails to allege that her injury was directly related to the predicate acts,” the judge's order stated.

 

 

 

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