The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission’s (KHRC) license review committee voted unanimously April 13 to not issue a trainer’s license for the state of Kentucky to trainer Rick Dutrow, who trained 2008 Triple Crown hopeful Big Brown. The KHRC cited numerous drug-related offenses as a contributing factor in denying the license.

Dutrow, who was not represented by legal counsel at the hearing, said most of the drug-related offenses on his record were due to overages of therapeutic medications. In the instances of the two most significant violations, for illegal medications for which the horses tested positive, Dutrow said neither he nor his staff were aware of how the medications could have been in the horses’ systems during the post-race tests.

Dutrow is also facing an upcoming hearing in New York over two suspensions: one for 60 days and the other for 30 days. Both suspensions are for drug-related offenses.

The action came after a one-hour hearing before the committee in which Dutrow was questioned about the lengthy list of violations on his record and inconsistencies on his license applications this year and in previous years. Dutrow could appeal the decision to the full commission or file a motion in Franklin Circuit Court. The trainer said he did not know if the Kentucky decision would affect his ability to train in other states that have reciprocity agreements