ALBUQUERQUE, NM—DECEMBER 2, 2014—According to a report published today in the Albuquerque Journal Trainer Jose L. Muela has been suspended for one year and fined $5,000 by the New Mexico Racing Commission after one of the horses in his care, Regal First Moon, tested positive for an overage of clenbuterol.

Regal First Moon was one of three horses trained by Muela that tested positive for regulated drugs in the past year. Regal First Moon tested positive for clenbuterol after a race on May 9. The filly was found to have nearly double the allowable amount of the bronchodilator in her system.

Connections of the filly must also forfeit $22,000 in purse earnings. The purse forfeiture applies not only to the winnings from the May 9 qualifying race at SunRay, but to finals of the $130,000 New Mexico Breeders' Futurity Regal First Moon ran there on May 25. Regal First Moon finished second in the futurity final but was disqualified and placed ninth for interference.

At the time of the infraction, Regal First Moon was owned by Julieta N. Torres' Diamond Racing Stables, LLC.

The sanctions were issued Nov. 17 by Racing Commission stewards.

Commission executive director Vince Mares said Monday neither Torres nor Muela had filed an appeal of the rulings with the commission by the Nov. 27 deadline.

In its ongoing efforts to crack down on horse doping, the New Mexico Racing Commission, which is responsible for regulating pari-mutuel horse racing industry at the state’s five racetrack/casinos, has begun posting its rulings on its website, www.nmrc.state.nm.us.