Trainer Richard Mandella and owner B. Wayne Hughes have been named as defendants in a lawsuit brought by a Thoroughbred owner in Arizona for allegedly failing to disclose that a surgical procedure had been performed on a horse claimed from Hughes and Mandella by the plaintiff.

Arizona-based owner Leslie W. Blake brought the action in Los Angeles Superior Court March 27. The suit also names Hollywood Park, Inc., as a defendant for failing to maintain a list of horses that had the surgery.

The procedure, a digital surgical neurectomy, commonly known as heel nerving, was performed on the horse Refinery July 15, 2006, by Rick Arthur, DVM. On Dec. 2, 2006, Refinery ran in a $50,000 claiming race at Hollywood Park, and was claimed from owner Hughes and trainer Mandella by Blake, through trainer Dan MacFarlane. When Blake and MacFarlane brought the horse to Arizona and entered him in a stakes race at Turf Paradise, they were informed Refinery could not run in the state, which bans any horse that has been heel nerved.

There is no such ban against the procedure in California. “I will not take a beating on this because I have not done anything wrong,” stated Mandella. “We always thought he was a better horse than he showed, so we did a nuclear scan that showed a cyst-like spot at the end of his coffin bone. We thought the procedure might make a difference. The fact is, he ran just about the same after the procedure as he had before.” Refinery was claimed in his fifth race back following the procedure