George Isaacs, a 60-year-old former Kentucky owner and trainer, is the man, according to a story in the Louisville Courier-Journal, who helped officials gather evidence against William Michael McCandless, the Tennessee man indicted in connection with the sponging of horses running at Churchill Downs.

In return for his cooperation, which reports have said included taped conversations with McCandless about his role in the spongings, Isaacs has gained an early release from probation in a Wisconsin drug case.

George Wilbur, the district attorney of Vernon County, Wis., was quoted as saying, “He needed to be free to move around because he was placing his life in danger because of his cooperation.”

Isaacs, who was a licensed trainer in Kentucky and Ohio prior to 1992, served a four-year prison sentence in connection with the drug case, which involved several other Kentuckians