On the dark screen of the Zoom video conference call on Tuesday, it was a little hard to see former horse racing trainer Rick Dutrow. Still, you could hear the emotion in his voice.
"Since I've been away, I've had a chance to reflect on things and look at myself and I know that I'm part of the problem. There's no question about that," Dutrow told the licensing committee of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. "But I've done a lot of time for this, so I just need an opportunity to train horses. That's all I want to do. That's all I've ever wanted to do."
Currently serving a 10-year suspension handed down by New York horse racing regulators in 2013, the 60-year-old Dutrow had applied for a Kentucky training license for the first time since 2011. "I'm sorry to take up your time and cause all this stuff," he said at the end of his public hearing. "But I just need to train horses. Please."
The personal plea wasn't enough. After executive session, the committee offered the controversial trainer an opportunity to withdraw his application so that a ruling would not affect any future applications. Dutrow's attorney Karen Murphy reluctantly agreed. "I don't know what you found so unpersuasive that you would take this action," she said. "I am profoundly disappointed."
On a day when fellow trainer Dale Romans and respected veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage spoke on Dutrow's behalf, the rejection was another chapter in the controversial career of the man who trained 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown, but also compiled a history of brash boasts and disdain for authority.
That came to a head in February 2011 when New York racing regulators handed Dutrow a 90-day suspension for recurring violations. When some criticized the sentence as too light _ citing 64 violations in nine different states _ New York officials reviewed the ruling and voted unanimously to revoke the trainer's license for 10 years. After appeals failed, Dutrow began serving the suspension in 2013.
Kentucky was among the states that had previously sanctioned Dutrow. And in 2011, the state declined to renew his license. According to his attorney, Tuesday was the first time since then that the trainer had applied for another license here.
"Give Rick the opportunity to compete in the only profession that he knows," Murphy told the committee. "The true measure of integrity is how you treat the horse, and his treatment of the horse is without parallel."
Bramlage backed up Murphy, telling the committee, "The legal question is yours. But his training is impeccable. He always goes with what is the best alternative for the horse."
Romans decried the unfairness of the 10-year suspension. "I cannot sit on the sideline after seeing what happened to him, because that might happen to me," he said. "We have an opportunity to right a wrong by letting this man go back to work."
Retired New York steward Stephen Lewandowski also spoke on Dutrow's behalf, saying, "From what I gather, he's not the same person he was. I'd stake my reputation on Rick Dutrow."
In the end, Dutrow's history proved too much to overcome. His appeal of Kentucky's 2011 decision was rejected because of transgressions including running his horses under the name of other trainers while suspended, falsifying a horse's identity and failing to show remorse.
"Some of the acts would have been noteworthy as corrupt even in the olden days of the wild West, and cannot have any allowed place in any modern racing jurisdiction," hearing officer Robert Layton wrote in his decision.
That was seven years ago. If anything, horse racing is under closer scrutiny now. Still, Dutrow presented himself as a changed man who only wanted thing: Another chance.
"The racetrack means everything to me, my family," he said. "It's just really been a hard time with this, watching from afar and saying, 'Man, I used to do that. Why am I not doing that?' I have a hard time with that."
He won't be doing it in Kentucky, however, not anytime soon.
