Mark Gerard (6 October 1934 – 21 June 2011) was an American

equine Equinae is a subfamily of the family Equidae, which have lived worldwide (except Indonesia and Australia) from the Hemingfordian stage of the Early Miocene (16 million years ago) onwards. They are thought to be a monophyletic grouping.B. J. Ma ...

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

. He was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, and graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

. As a student, he worked as an exercise rider for, among others, Hall of Fame trainer James E. Fitzsimmons. Gerard started practice as a veterinarian for racehorses, some highly successful ones, such as Canonero II, who won the Kentucky Derby; he also cared for Triple Crown winner

Secretariat Secretariat may refer to: * Secretariat (administrative office) * Secretariat (horse) Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989), also known as Big Red, was a champion American thoroughbred racehorse who is the ninth winner of the Ame ...

. In 1977, he masterminded a highly publicized scandal involving horse switching. He had imported two horses from

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, a champion named Cinzano, and the much cheaper Lebon. After Lebon had under-performed in his earlier races, Gerard ran Cinzano under Lebon's name. Entered as "Lebon", Cinzano subsequently won as a 57-1 outsider, at New York's Belmont Park, and Gerard collected a $77,920 winning on a bet. Later, a Uruguayan journalist recognized the horse as Cinzano from a newspaper photo, and an investigation was started. The story was broken in the States on October 21, 1977, by ''News World''s racing editor, Daniel Keating in New York. When John Piesen of the ''New York Post'' told Keating that he had broken a story on October 23, Keating told him he broke it two days ago. Keating also asked Rupert Murdoch to cease claiming the Post had broken the story. Nothing happened. In September 1978, Gerard, represented by attorney

F. Lee Bailey Francis Lee Bailey Jr. (June 10, 1933 – June 3, 2021) was an American criminal defense attorney. Bailey's name first came to nationwide attention for his involvement in the second murder trial of Sam Sheppard, a surgeon accused of murdering ...

, testified that Lebon had "died in an accident at Gerard's New York farm the day he and Cinzano arrived from Uruguay", and his wife testified that she had switched horses without his knowledge. Gerard was convicted of fraud, then fined $1,000 and sentenced to one year in prison, which was shortened on appeal by four months, otherwise retaining his ill-gotten gains.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerard, Mark 1934 births 2011 deaths American veterinarians Male veterinarians People from Brooklyn Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine alumni