People indicted over the doping of horses on the East Coast have been keeping the courtroom busy.

The latest of these to appear before Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil is Michael Kegley who had worked for Medivet Equine in Kentucky.

At a plea bargain hearing in July he admitted to promoting and selling PEDs for use on Thoroughbred racehorses. In the words of U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss following that hearing, Kegley "promoted and sold unregulated performance-enhancing substances intended for use by those engaged in fraud and unconscionable animal abuse in the world of professional horse racing,"

There is no parole in the federal court system, and Kegley is likely to serve 85% of his 30 months prison sentence, subject to some reduction of time if he follows institutional rules while incarcerated.  He then will be subject to a year's supervised release

As part and parcel of Kegley's sentence, a money judgment of $3,310,490 was entered Jan. 5. 

Meantime in California Dr John Pascoe, Executive Associate Dean of the University of California, Davis, School of Veterinary Medicine, has been appointed to supervise the necropsy of Medina Spirit, the 3yo first-over-the-line in 2021 Kentucky Derby who dropped dead of presumably at heart attack when training at Santa Anita.

Senator Dianne Feinstein has urged that this be a transparent, thorough and independent investigation.

The California Horse Racing Board's vet, Dr Jeff Blea, has had his licence temporarily suspended hence the call out to Dr Pascoe.