Trainer Jeff Mullins allegedly violated detention barn rules

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Trainer Jeff Mullins, who conditions Kentucky Derby hopefulI Want Revenge, is under investigation for allegedly violating detention barn rules by trying to administer cough medicine to a horse before Saturday’s Bay Shore Stakes at Aqueduct, the Thoroughbred Times reported Sunday on its website.

New York stewards scratched Gato Go Win after security personnel alleged they saw Mullins trying to administer an over-the-counter product called Air Power to the horse, the Thoroughbred Times reported.

Joe Mahoney, a spokesman for the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, said that security alleges Mullins brought a syringe into the detention barn.

Mahoney said there was no incident involving I Want Revenge, who later won the Wood Memorial on the same card.

Mullins served a 20-day suspension in 2008 imposed by the California Horse Racing Board for use of the Class 2 drug mepivicane, and he had trouble in 2005 when at least one of his horses tested positive for excessive levels of total carbon dioxide.

He could not be reached for comment.

-- Eric Sondheimer