UPDATED | Track stewards hearing scheduled for Friday

AUSTINTOWN

There will be hearing by track stewards following an investigation into a Nov. 4 race at Austintown’s Hollywood Gaming at the Mahoning Valley Race Course.

The hearing will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at Hollywood Gaming, 655 N. Canfield Niles Road, and it is open to the public.

The racing commission and Penn National, the company that operates Hollywood Gaming, both opened an investigation into Nov. 4’s ninth race after a horse that was entered into the race was found by a state veterinarian not to be the actual horse that raced and won.

The winning horse’s markings, sex and lip tattoo were different from the horse entered.

Three stewards, or judges, will listen to what the Ohio State Racing Commission’s staff found in their investigation and possibly make a decision to issue penalties to those involved.

The horse checker, whose job is to check the lip tattoo of every horse before each race to make sure it matches the one entered, was suspended shortly after the incident, said Penn National Spokesman Bob Tenenbaum.

Penn’s “internal inquiry” into the incident is ongoing, Tenenbaum said.