An Illinois horse players has filed a lawsuit in Federal Court in New Jersey seeking over $30,000 in lost winnings he would have collected but for an alleged conspiracy to “rig” harness races conducted at Meadowlands race track in New Jersey (Tretter v. Breshnahan, et al., District of New Jersey, 18-cv-03245). Plaintiff, Jeffrey Tretter, described as a “professional, part-time, pari-mutual better” alleges that on January 15, 2016, defendants, horse trainer Robert Bresnahan and horse owner J.L. Sadowsky, LLC., knowingly entered and ran a “doped horse”, Tag Up and Go, in the fourth race at the Meadowlands. According to the complaint, Tag Up and Go “pulled significantly ahead of all the other horses in the final stretch and won the race, in an effort that was far beyond what his previous racing form and finishes suggested possible.” Plaintiff alleges he conducted “in depth research” prior to selecting his horses for that race which ran second, third, fourth and fifth.
According to the complaint, testing from blood samples taken a month earlier in December 2015 revealed that Tag Up and Go “had been doped with a performance-enhancing substance,” EPO, which is banned by the Meadowlands. The plaintiff alleges that if Tag Up and Go had been “properly kept from competing” he would have cashed win, place, show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta, pick 3 and pick 5 bets he placed on his Twinspires account. Plaintiff alleges his total cash out for the race would have been in excess of $31,835.50. Plaintiff brings his claims under state and federal racketeering laws (RICO) and for common law fraud. Plaintiff is represented by K and L Gates, a large international law firm.
