Manalapan Woman Pleads Guilty To Racehorse Doping Charges

MANALAPAN, NJ - A Manalapan woman pled guilty to conspiring to illegally distribute "adulterated and misbranded" drugs for the purpose of doping racehorses, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced on Wednesday.

Sarah Izhaki, 45, of Manalapan, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil and will be sentenced by Judge Vyskocil on Dec. 2, 2020. Scott Robinson, 46, of Tampa, Florida, pled guilty to the same charges before U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken, and is set to be sentenced by Judge Oetken on Jan. 15, 2021.

According to authorities, from around Feb. 2018 until about Nov. 2019, Izhaki conspired with others to transport, sell and deliver tens of thousands of dollars' worth of erythropoietin, a “blood builder” drug intended to increase a horse’s racing performance. The drugs had been reportedly smuggled into the country from Mexico and were transported and sold by Izhaki.

The Manalapan woman also offered amphetamines for sale, as well as a substance that Izhaki referred to as “the Devil,” which Izhaki claimed would render the presence of drugs undetectable in an animal’s body.

In a separate conspiracy from around 2011 through about March 2020, Robinson conspired with others to manufacture, sell and ship millions of dollars’ worth of "adulterated and misbranded equine drugs," including illicit performance-enhancing drugs to be administered to racehorses to improving race performance. Robinson sold these drugs through several direct-to-consumer websites including “horseprerace.com", among others.

“Scott Robinson and Sarah Izhaki represent the supply side of a market of greed that continues to endanger racehorses through the sale of performance-enhancing drugs,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a statement.

“Each of these defendants provided the raw materials for fraud and animal abuse through the sale of unregulated and dangerous substances: Robinson’s products were manufactured in shoddy facilities with no professional oversight of their composition; Izhaki’s products were smuggled into the country and sold from cars in supermarket parking lots. These convictions show that our Office and our partners at the FBI are committed to the prosecution and investigation of corruption, fraud, and endangerment in the horse racing industry.”

Izhaki and Robinson are among 27 individuals charged in a series of indictments arising from a widespread investigation involving racehorse trainers, veterinarians, Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) distributors, and others who manufacture, distribute, receive and administer adulterated and misbranded PEDs.

By disregarding PED prohibitions and deceiving regulators and horse racing officials, individuals involved in the schemes sought to improve race performance and obtain prize money from racetracks, "all to the detriment and risk of the health and well-being of the racehorses," the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Both Izhaki and Robinson pled guilty to one count of conspiring to "unlawfully introduce and receive with the intent to redistribute for pay or otherwise adulterated and misbranded drugs in interstate commerce," as well as misbranding drugs in interstate commerce.

The offense carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

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