Trainer Orlando Noda will fight a 90-day suspension and $5,000 fine handed him by the New York State Gaming Commission for alleged mistreatment of a horse during training hours at Saratoga during the 2021 meet. Attorney Drew Mollica, on behalf of Noda, filed an Article 78 last week and received a stay and temporary restraining order from a state Supreme Court judge in Schenectady, N.Y., that will enable Noda to continue to train until the case is heard. The penalties also required Noda to undergo anger-management training before he could get his license reinstated. On Aug. 15, 2021, Noda was initially fined $5,000 by the commission for actions it deemed “detrimental to the best interests of racing.” The actions in question were Noda’s treatment of the horse Win With Pride, whom he was aboard during training hours on the main track on the morning of the Aug. 5, 2021. According to a witness, the bloodstock agent David Ingordo, Noda struck Win With Pride with a crop “roughly five to seven times” on the shoulder and hindquarters to get him to train, according to testimony during a two-day hearing that was held over video conferencing in February and March of 2022. :: DRF Bets players have exclusive access to FREE DRF Past Performances - Classic or Formulator! Join today.  According to hearing officer David Devaprasad’s report, Noda “testified that because Win With Pride had ‘frozen’ he used a regulation crop five or six times on the horse’s shoulder and hindquarters to get the horse to train. He further testified that he had been trained in the proper use of the crop, and that at no time did he strike the horse on the head, or in the ears, or in the eyes.” There was no other on-the-record testimony offered in the case by witnesses, though trainer Tom Bush, now retired, was interviewed by the three New York stewards – Carmine Donofrio, Jennifer Durenberger, and Brooke Hawkins. He was not called as a witness during the hearing. In his report, Devaprasad wrote that the commission did not do a thorough enough investigation into the incident nor did any actions committed by Noda demonstrate a violation because there are no specific rules to “indicate how a crop may or may not be used while training a horse or that specify what type of actions qualify as mistreatment of a horse,” he wrote. “In the absence of a more thorough investigation and additional evidence and witness testimony, the record is simply insufficient to sustain a finding that there is substantial evidence to support the commission’s charges and penalties,” Devaprasad concluded. Despite the hearing officer’s recommendation, the Gaming Commission, as is its prerogative, rejected the hearing officer’s finding and issued the penalties to Noda. Mollica said the suspension was scheduled to start Wednesday.  “The findings of fact and conclusion of law of the hearing officer should be respected,” Mollica said. “He heard the evidence and heard the witnesses and made a proper decision. It’s only the commission, unhappy with the due process and the finding, without any basis, disregards it. There is no basis to overturn it – none – it’s just they don’t like the results.” The commission, in rejecting the hearing officer’s recommendation, wrote “there is no requirement that actual, documented, physical harm or injury must come to an equine athlete as the result of a person’s abusive, violent and disgraceful conduct toward the equine athlete, for someone to have engaged in an improper act or conduct that is detrimental to the best interest of racing.” There is another court date in the case on Jan. 18, but the case is not expected to be heard at that time. In 2022, Noda ranked 15th in wins on the NYRA circuit with 26 from 241 starters. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.