Veterinarian involved in horse race fraud dies | The Associated ...

Mark J. Gerard, the veterinarian for champion horses Secretariat and Kelso whose racing career was ruined when he ran a ringer in a 1977 race at Belmont Park, has died. He was 76.

He died June 21 in Miami from complications from a stroke, according to his sister, Joyce Aimee Titchnell of Los Angeles. He was at work on June 6 at a stable in Wellington, Fla., where he treated polo ponies, when he was stricken.

Gerard was a well-regarded veterinarian at New York's major racetracks in the 1960s and '70s, overseeing the health of hundreds of horses owned by the sport's top stables and trainers.

"My brother was considered the most important vet in the country. If anybody had a real problem with a horse, they would call Mike in," Titchnell told The Associated Press on Wednesday, referring to her brother by the name his family called him. "He could take care of horses like no one."

On Sept. 23, 1977, an unknown horse from Uruguay named Lebon won a Belmont Park turf race at 57-1 odds. The horse was actually Cinzano, the top 3-year-old colt in the South American country in 1976, who had won seven of eight stakes races.

Both horses had been imported by Gerard for other owners, and their identities had been switched. Gerard paid $81,000 for Cinzano and he sold him to Joseph Taub for $150,000. Gerard paid $1,600 for lowly Lebon and sold him to Jack Morgan for $9,500.

While Cinzano was shocking the bettors at Belmont, investigators said the real Lebon's remains were likely covered by tons of garbage at a dump in Huntington, N.Y.

That June, the day after the two horses were flown from Uruguay to New York, Gerard reported that one of them, which he identified as Cinzano, had died at his farm on Long Island after fracturing his skull.

He filed an insurance claim for the horse. Taub, who was not implicated in the scheme, received an insurance settlement of $150,000.

Gerard then procured a certificate of foreign registration from the Jockey Club for the horse he called Lebon, supplying photographs of Cinzano.

The lesser regarded horse's real name came to light when a racing editor in Uruguay, thrilled by the news of humble Lebon's unexpected victory, asked The Associated Press for a winner's circle photograph. He immediately recognized Cinzano and alerted the New York Jockey Club.

A dental exam revealed the difference between the horses: the ringer was a 4-year-old; Lebon was 5.

Gerard had bet $1,200 to win and $600 to show on Lebon, earning him $80,440 for the wagers.

Gerard was acquitted of two felony counts, but found guilty of a misdemeanor for "fraudulent entries and practices in contests of speed." He was sentenced to a year in jail and fined $1,000. The sentence was reduced on appeal, and he served a lesser jail sentence.

"Every time he had to put down a horse, you couldn't talk to him for days," Titchnell said, "so I can't see him doing anything to a horse. It's just so foreign to anything he would have done."

Titchnell said she never discussed the scandal in detail with her brother.

"The only thing he would always say was he was not guilty," she said Wednesday. "I have never figured it out. He was making a lot of money. He was at the top of his game. He had it all. It never made sense to anyone. It was a mystery that will probably never be solved."

Born Mark Joel Geronimus on Oct. 6, 1934, in Brooklyn, he changed his last name when he became a veterinarian.

During summers, Gerard worked at the New York tracks as an exercise rider and a hot walker. One of his first employers was Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, who trained for the high-profile Phipps family stable.

As Gerard's vet career took off, he cared for Kentucky Derby winners Secretariat, Riva Ridge, Canonero II and Kelso, a five-time Horse of the Year.

After the scandal, with his racetrack career finished, Gerard moved to Wellington, Fla., outside of Palm Beach, and cared for polo ponies.

"He had no children and horses were everything to him since he was a little boy," Titchnell said.

Her brother was cremated and his ashes scattered "where happy horses graze," she said, quoting his written instructions.

Besides his sister, Gerard is survived by his wife of 41 years, Alice.

Source: http://washingtonexaminer.com/sports/2011/06/veterinarian-involved-horse-race-fraud-dies

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