The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is investigating five races that took place Sunday at racetracks in New Jersey and New York after bookmakers in the United States and United Kingdom detected unusual betting on horses that overperformed and are linked to the same training facility.
Five horses -- each coming off long layoffs and having worked out this summer at Fair Hill Training Facility in Maryland -- entered races Sunday at either Saratoga Race Course in New York or Monmouth Park in New Jersey.
Four of the horses won, defying the odds and surprising racing experts with their performance.
Messages left with Fair Hill Training Facility were not immediately returned.
Lisa Lazarus, CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), confirmed to ESPN that the five horses at the center of the investigation are The Great Amira, Tepeyac, Classic Rock, M Bs Melanie Cares and Scootaloo.
Lazarus said she began receiving calls Sunday night from people concerned about the horses' performances and from others who pointed out anomalies in the betting on the horses in the U.S. and U.K. She said it was the first time that bookmakers from the U.K. had contacted HISA about unusual betting activity on races in the U.S.
"This is very unusual," Lazarus told ESPN on Tuesday.
The Great Amira, around a 20-1 long shot in the morning line, closed at around 17-1 and won the third race at Monmouth Park by 9½ lengths. Tepeyac was 9-2 on the morning line, went off at around 4-1 and won the fourth race.
A two-leg parlay on those horses at their odds typically would have returned upward of $180. However, enough money was bet on those two horses to win that the payout on the Daily Double, a two-leg parlay on the races, returned just over $25.
"The daily double being so short was a red flag," Michael Beychok, a longtime, high-level bettor, said. "But also the form reversals of these horses were extraordinary, on the same day."
The Great Amira had finished last in both of its lifetime starts.
Classic Rock was 10-1 on the morning line, went off at 8-1 and won Race 4 at Saratoga by 8¾ lengths. M B Melanie Cares went off at 12-1 and cruised to win Race 7 at Saratoga by over three lengths.
All four of the winning horses were immediately subject to postrace drug testing by the Horseracing Integrity & Wellness Unit, a spokesperson for HISA said in a statement.
Trainer Angel Quiroz is connected to all five horses. Quiroz was the listed trainer for The Great Amira and Tepeyac. Quiroz told Thoroughbred Daily News that he previously trained Classic Rock and M Bs Melanie Cares, before they were sold to Ernesto Ochoa. Ochoa was the listed trainer and owner of Classic Rock and M Bs Melanie Cares for Sunday's races.
Quiroz also was the listed trainer for Scootaloo, a horse that got off to a tough start and finished fourth in Race 3 at Saratoga on Sunday.
"It's very simple," Quiroz told Thoroughbred Daily News on Monday. "I took my horses and ran them at Monmouth Park and won the races, and I took one horse to Saratoga and she ran fourth. Everybody is shocked. I don't see what the big deal is or what the problem is. I'm supposed to run all the time and not try to win the race?"
ESPN was unable to reach Quiroz on Tuesday.
Ochoa wrote in Spanish on social media that he was "very happy for the triumphs achieved over the weekend" and acknowledged the controversy surrounding the races.
"Everyone is free to think and opine," he posted on X. "That's the reality of a wonderful activity like horse racing."
Neither Quiroz nor Ochoa has been accused of any wrongdoing.
Quiroz also was linked to two horses scheduled to run Monday in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Both horses were scratched ahead of their races.
HISA was established in 2020, when the federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act was signed into law. It operates as a private, nonprofit regulatory organization under the Federal Trade Commission to provide a national framework of rules for the racing industry.
"We take this extremely seriously, working with all these organizations to make sure that we can determine what, if anything, happened," Lazarus said. "And obviously, if any rules were broken, there will be serious consequences."