The Great Belmont Park Sting

Not exactly a horse of a different color

It was the final event of the day, a cheap claiming race on the inner-turf track at New York's Belmont Park. With a mixed bag of nags running on a spongy grass surface, it was not the easiest race for bettors to sort out, and by the time the field of twelve horses paraded to the post, rain was falling steadily. So it was understandable that many fans had started to drift toward the exits. But something happened during the ninth race on Sept. 23 that stopped the exodus and sent horseplayers back to stare at the tote board with envious wonderment. After leading most of the way, a 57-to-1 long-shot Uruguayan import named Lebon had breezed easily to a four-length win--and returned $116 for every $2 laid down by his few faithful followers.

As Lebon was led to the winner's circle, a handsome man in his early 40s went to the cashier's window to collect his investment of $1,300 in win tickets and $600 in show tickets on Lebon. The cashier did not have the $80,440 payoff those tickets were worth on hand and told the bettor he would have to send to the track's main safe for additional funds. Within a few minutes, a courier--who doubles as a stablehand at Belmont--arrived with cash. As he handed the money to the clerk, he glanced through the window at the big winner. "Hi, Doc," the stablehand said. The salutation was for Dr. Mark Gerard, veterinarian to Secretariat during that Triple Crown winner's racing days and a familiar face to Belmont backstretchers. The chance encounter with the courier was to prove very troublesome. Three weeks later, a Uruguayan newspaperman called the Jockey Club steward at Belmont and told him that the horse in the winner's circle photograph was not Lebon but Cinzano, Uruguay's 1976 Horse of the Year. That brought Gerard under suspicion of engineering a horse-swapping "sting."

In the investigation that ensued and is still under way, it was learned that Lebon, Cinzano and a third horse, Boots Colonero, were imported to the U.S. by Gerard in early June. But the day the horses arrived at Gerard's Muttontown, N. Y., farm, Cinzano was reported to have suffered massive head injuries in a barn accident--the circumstances of which have never been explained--and had to be destroyed. New York State racing officials suspect that it was Lebon that was destroyed, not Cinzano, and that Cinzano, a blue-chip colt, was run as Lebon--a raced-out plodder who had sold at auction for $600 a few weeks before Gerard purchased him.

Gerard seems an unlikely candidate for such shenanigans. As a top track veterinarian, he tended thoroughbreds for some of America's best-known owners and trainers. But in recent years, Gerard has augmented his lucrative practice by importing South American horses. He buys cheap and sells high: Lebon was purchased for $1,600 in Uruguay and sold to Jack Morgan, a former assistant of Gerard's, for $10,000. Some racing people became wary of Gerard's activities. Says a trainer at one premier stable: "When I came to work here, my owner told me never to let Gerard in his barns, never to let him treat our horses."

New York State Racing and Wagering Board Chief William Barry has widened investigations under way before the scandal broke to include computerized screening of every owner, trainer and jockey--some 36,000 people--licensed to operate at the state's 15 tracks. One goal of the search: to check all links to Gerard, who investigators think may have owned horses racing in the state through front men. Veterinarians licensed to practice at state tracks are barred from such conflict-of-interest ownership.

That similar scandals do not occur frequently would appear to be a matter of luck rather than the thoroughness of the identification standards set up by racing officials. American-bred horses are required to bear lip tattoos in most states. However, tattoos often fade with age and--as was often done by rustlers in the Old West--can be altered. The only foolproof form of identification is comparison of the chestnuts, or night eyes--horny growths on the inside of the legs. Like fingerprints in humans, no two sets of night eyes are the same. But registration of the night eyes and tattoos is not made until a horse is brought to a track for racing, not soon after birth. Only New York tracks require the expensive night-eye procedure.

The Gerard case spotlights a problem that can only be compounded as the number of tracks and official racing days increase. In recent years, New York State has expanded its racing season from 258 days in 1973 to 302 days this year. The demand for horses to fill expanding meetings--and the opportunity for swaps and swindles--grows with each additional racing day, making it difficult for harried stewards and security investigators to keep tabs on all thoroughbreds. The growth of exotic betting devices--super-fectas and the like--with their huge payoffs represents an additional impetus to crooked horsemen. Perhaps the only ones within the racing community to benefit from the latest scandal are the bookies. Says one oddsmaker: "It's very good for business. Every tout around is telling guys, 'Hey, listen, I know something about this horse. It's not really the horse . . .' "

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