The decision comes despite numerous infractions, suspensions, and other penalties. Should anybody really be surprised?It doesn't seem to matter how much trouble a trainer can get into, they always seems to eventually find his way back. Case in point: Ramon Preciado.Preciado ran two horses at Mountaineer Park last week and has been starting horses there since April 12. Through Thursday, he had won with four of his 34 Mountaineer starters.His reinstatement came a bit more than nine years after he ran his last horse. Preciado isn't the first trainer to find his way back after such a lengthy absence and he won't be the last. But he has arguably beaten the system to a degree that is unprecedented in racing, If they can't keep Preciado out, who can they keep out?Preciado was on top of the world at Parx back in the early to mid-2010's. He won the training title in 2014 and 2015, years in which his horses won at a rate of 30 percent and 29 percent, respectively. He even won a pair of Grade III stakes in 2015–the Woodford Stakes at Keeneland and the Gallant Bob Stakes at Parx.It seemed that there was no horse that he couldn't turn around. On July 15, 2015, he claimed a horse named Trouble Kid (Harlan's Holiday) for owner Barbara Hopkins for $15,000 out of a maiden claimer. On that occasion, the horse ran a 59 Beyer figure. Three starts later, he won the Gallant Bob, earning a 94 Beyer.Back when he was rolling, there as nothing quite like Preciado. But with such an unnaturally high success rate, whispers usually follow. People were understandably suspicious. Was his success the result of performance-enhancing drugs?In this case, there was more than just innuendo and backstretch rumors. A Parx stewards' ruling dated Dec. 12, 2016 revoked Preciado's trainer license for a clenbuterol violation in July. The test was the latest in a string of positives for Preciado, who was fighting eight other medication violations earlier in the year.His problems were just beginning. In May, 2016 Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission (PHRC) revealed six Parx stewards' rulings dated May 17-22 demanding the forfeiture of purse money and disqualifications of Preciado-trained horses. All six entrants were winners of their respective races in March and April, then subsequently tested positive for clenbuterol.On April 15, Parx served Preciado with a formal ejection notice for a period of three years, citing his history of equine drug overages and a “pattern of conduct…not in the best interest of racing.”(A former Preciado employee would later be arrested on one count of rigging a publicly exhibited contest after she said she illegally administered clenbuterol to Preciado horses to seek revenge against the trainer. That employee, Marian Vega, was deferred to Pennsylvania's Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program and bypassed a trial.)But her admission changed little when it came to Preciado. He was still held accountable for the many violations and had his license revoked.With all the charges against him, he seemed like a good candidate for a lifetime ban–if there even is such a thing in horse racing. Considering the baggage and the number of violations, what track or racing commission would let Preciado back inside the gates?But he did get a license back and his reinstatement was the latest chapter in the bizarre story of a trainer who seemed to have nine lives, thanks to a Pennsylvania Racing Commission which, for whatever reason, kept throwing him lifelines. Preciado still wasn't done.In 2020, the Pennsylvania Racing Commission inexplicably issued Preciado a groom's license and he took a job with trainer Penny Pearce.Smoke meet fire.Pearce was a nondescript trainer who won six races in 2020, good for an 8-percent wining rate. But once Preciado went to work for her, everything magically changed. She won 32 races in 2021 for a winning rate of 23 percent. In 2022, she won 23 races and her winning percentage was 25 percent. But Pearce may have been using more than hay, oats and water. In September 2022, Pearce was issued a suspension of 1,950 days and fined $23,500 by the Pennsylvania Racing Commission after six horses under her care tested positive for–you guessed it–clenbuterol during out-of-competition tests. She has not started a horse since.Preciado was also able to go to work for trainer Michael E. Jones, Jr. at Fair Hill. The Paulick Report launched an investigation and reported that Preciado was a regular at Fair Hill while Jones was rarely seen there.Preciado, hoping to get his trainer's license back, was largely kept in limbo over the next three to four years. His attorney, Alan Pincus, said he survived by driving an Uber. He kept coming before the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission seeking reinstatement. He was denied every time. After Preciado appealed a 2023 decision, a hearing officer concluded that “the application should be denied on the basis of previous violations and conduct as a trainer which poses a threat to the integrity of racing.”He couldn't even get a groom's license, which he applied for in Delaware. The ruling that denied his request read: “The ruling, which was published May 15, cites two state regulations as the basis for the decision; one pertains to “denial or revocation of a license in another jurisdiction at a previous time,” and the other deals with “past or contemplated conduct which may adversely affect the public's confidence in the reputation Thoroughbred racing heretofore has enjoyed in Delaware for stringent adherence to uncompromising standards of honesty, integrity and propriety.”Still, Preciado and Pincus did not give up. In West Virginia, which is not a HISA state, they found a sympathetic ear, and that state's racing commission gave him a trainer's license.“Some people besides me believe in the idea that once someone has been suspended and after his suspension and time has gone by that he's entitled to another chance,” Pincus said. “Some forces didn't want him back in for some reason. It's very unfair. He hasn't had any violations in many years.”(Which may have something to do with the fact that he was wasn't able to train for some nine years).“West Virginia is a very progressive state,” Pincus said. “You can see that they allow people with HISA rulings to race there. They do give people second chances. There's nothing wrong with that. I praise them for that.”The TDN reached out to Mountaineer Chief Steward W. Bret Smith. He referred all questions to West Virginia Racing Commission executive director Joe Moore, who did not respond to an email from the TDN.Preciado is back, but that raises questions: Who is looking out for the betting public and West Virginia horsemen who play by the rules? Those are the questions that have been around forever, and they never seem to result in a satisfactory answer.The post Week in Review: Trainer Ramon Preciado is Re-Licensed after Nine Years appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.