A veteran jockey was running in fifth place in a horse race in Texas when his horse pulled forward and won by half a length. The jockey, Roman Chapa of Big Spring, Texas, has been accused of using a shock device to prod the horse after a photo at the finish line showed what appeared to be an electric device in his hand. Chapa has been charged with unlawful influence on racing, but still remains at large, according to UK's The Daily Mail.
Jack Coady, track photographer at the $50,000 Richard King Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park, snapped a photo of the 43-year-old jockey and Quiet Acceleration just before the finish, according to The Daily Mail. Chapa asked Coady to take the photo off the track's website because "it was a bad picture," per a probable cause complaint.
This isn't the first time Chapa has been caught mistreating an animal. In 1994, he was suspended for nine months for allegedly using a nail to stab a horse during a race, according to ESPN. Chapa was still an apprentice at the time, according to The Daily Mail. Chapa was banned for five years in 2007 by the New Mexico Racing Commission for using an electrical device on a Quarter Horse at Sunland Park.
In 2012, Chapa was fined $100 to hitting his horse in the face with a whip, according to ESPN. According to The Daily Mail, Chapa was suspected of using an electric buzzer in 2014, after Peta heard assistant trainer Scott Blasi on tape talking about Chapa using the buzzer and how he liked to hide it in his mouth.
In between his racing violations, Chapa found time in 2002 to serve 10 days in jail for felony charges of cruelty to animals that was plead down to a misdemeanor. Chapa was arrested for an incident on Dec. 14, 2001 in which police said, he "knowingly tortures an animal, namely a dog, by beating it with a strap," according to Paulick Report.
