Racing jockey caught using a "illegal tazer" on a horse to win

Revealed he tried to bully photographer who took photo proof

A veteran jockey from Texas is facing felony charges after being accused of cheating during a race by using an outlawed electrical device to 'buzz' the animal and make it run faster.

A criminal investigation was launched after a photograph of Roman Eric Chapa, 43, taken near the finish line at Sam Houston Race Park on January 17, was widely circulated through the racing community.

Chapa won the $50,000 race while riding Quiet Acceleration but he has now been charged with unlawful influence on racing.

Court records say the device seen in Chapa's hand delivers an electrical shock to the horse.

Suspicions were only aroused when the photographer told them Chapa asked for the photograph to be removed from a website but did not give him a specific reason as to why, only that 'it was a bad picture.'

Chapa denies using the device during the race and claimed the picture was photoshopped because 'someone was trying to frame him.'

Yeah buddy, you're not an @$$, they're all out to get you.

The owner of the horse said he was shaken and upset by allegations his animal was 'buzzed' with the device.

Roman Chapa, 43, of Big Spring has been charged with unlawful influence on racing after being allegedly caught in the act of using the device in a photo taken near the finish line.

The jockey was running in fifth place in the $50,000 Richard King Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park on January 17 when his mount, Quiet Acceleration, pressed to the front of the pack and won by half a length.


Track photographer Jack Coady snapped a photo of Chapa just before the finish of the $50,000 race, which Quiet Acceleration had entered at 10-to-1 odds.

It's amazing how that horse is playing the lead in Rudy, isn't? Coming from behind like that! I feel for this horse that had to go through torture just so a man can win money. Ducking bastardo.

Chapa faces a felony charge and that a warrant was issued for his arrest on Tuesday, but authorities have so far been unable to locate him.

There does not appear to be a direct precedent for prosecution of a jockey over use of such a device.

Well, since there's no precedent for this, can we all sit on his back, while we ride him around a room, and if he's not fast enough, can we taze him to make him go faster? Seems fair to me. How about you guys? Fair?

originally posted by: Anyafaj
Revealed he tried to bully photographer who took photo proof

A veteran jockey from Texas is facing felony charges after being accused of cheating during a race by using an outlawed electrical device to 'buzz' the animal and make it run faster.

A criminal investigation was launched after a photograph of Roman Eric Chapa, 43, taken near the finish line at Sam Houston Race Park on January 17, was widely circulated through the racing community.

Chapa won the $50,000 race while riding Quiet Acceleration but he has now been charged with unlawful influence on racing.

Court records say the device seen in Chapa's hand delivers an electrical shock to the horse.

Suspicions were only aroused when the photographer told them Chapa asked for the photograph to be removed from a website but did not give him a specific reason as to why, only that 'it was a bad picture.'

Chapa denies using the device during the race and claimed the picture was photoshopped because 'someone was trying to frame him.'

Yeah buddy, you're not an @$$, they're all out to get you.

The owner of the horse said he was shaken and upset by allegations his animal was 'buzzed' with the device.

Roman Chapa, 43, of Big Spring has been charged with unlawful influence on racing after being allegedly caught in the act of using the device in a photo taken near the finish line.

The jockey was running in fifth place in the $50,000 Richard King Stakes at Sam Houston Race Park on January 17 when his mount, Quiet Acceleration, pressed to the front of the pack and won by half a length.


Track photographer Jack Coady snapped a photo of Chapa just before the finish of the $50,000 race, which Quiet Acceleration had entered at 10-to-1 odds.

It's amazing how that horse is playing the lead in Rudy, isn't? Coming from behind like that! I feel for this horse that had to go through torture just so a man can win money. Ducking bastardo.

Chapa faces a felony charge and that a warrant was issued for his arrest on Tuesday, but authorities have so far been unable to locate him.

There does not appear to be a direct precedent for prosecution of a jockey over use of such a device.

Well, since there's no precedent for this, can we all sit on his back, while we ride him around a room, and if he's not fast enough, can we taze him to make him go faster? Seems fair to me. How about you guys? Fair?

Horse racing is a cruelty sport. Nothing about this is surprising except that he's in trouble.

There are some animals that are closers meaning they run from behind and put on a furious spurt at the finish. I'm not excusing him at all just telling you that there are those horses that are comfortable running at the back and pressing forward at the end.

originally posted by: ketsuko
There are some animals that are closers meaning they run from behind and put on a furious spurt at the finish. I'm not excusing him at all just telling you that there are those horses that are comfortable running at the back and pressing forward at the end.

And that's relevant how?

originally posted by: ketsuko
There are some animals that are closers meaning they run from behind and put on a furious spurt at the finish. I'm not excusing him at all just telling you that there are those horses that are comfortable running at the back and pressing forward at the end.

If he was that kind of horse, the tazer would have been unnecessary. The fact that he used it, tells this horse wasn't one of those. Or was no longer.

a reply to: Anyafaj

As I look at the photo's. I couldn't help but notice the WIDE EYED look the horse has. It's pain and fear.
As a child I use to love watching the races at Santa Anita Downs.

Now I see this! I'm stupid for not realizing the torture that comes with this.
Maybe it's just that I'm in a mood.
Right now I put the life of an animal far ahead of a humans.

what the heck did that horse do to the jockey ?

EDIT: after again looking at the photo's. This jockey can't be more than 4.5ft tall. Clearly his blue jeans don't fit right...
I CAN TAKE HIM!!!!!!!!

a reply to: Tangerine

Because you implied in your first comment that only reason he came from behind was because he was tazed.

He might have been running his natural style.

I agree the tazer is cruel and unnecessary. I believe I said that, but imply that no horse could come from behind in a power run as a natural tactic is false. Some of them run that way.

a reply to: Anyafaj

Not necessarily.

It could simply be that the jockey realized that his horse was slow or not giving what he was asking for so he decided to cheat it out of the animal with torture.

If the horse is not equal to the competition, he's not equal. Being a closer could still be his natural style, and his owner and trainer could be innocent of what went on too.

Jockeys wait to pick up rides and get paid for good results. This may have been the jockey's way of enhancing his own reputation at the horse's expense which leads one to wonder how many other horses he's hit with his hidden cattle prod.

originally posted by: ketsuko
a reply to: Anyafaj

Not necessarily.

It could simply be that the jockey realized that his horse was slow or not giving what he was asking for so he decided to cheat it out of the animal with torture.

If the horse is not equal to the competition, he's not equal. Being a closer could still be his natural style, and his owner and trainer could be innocent of what went on too.

Jockeys wait to pick up rides and get paid for good results. This may have been the jockey's way of enhancing his own reputation at the horse's expense which leads one to wonder how many other horses he's hit with his hidden cattle prod.

According to the article he has a history of cruelty to animals.

In addition to the felony charge, Chapa faces the probability that the Texas Racing Commission will take way his license to race.

He has a checkered history as a jockey and has been suspended twice before for buzzing horses.

Chapa was sanctioned by Texas officials in 1994 for using a nail to spur his horse, Silver Sixes, at a qualifying race at the Gillespie County Fair. He was suspended from racing for nine months and fined $2,500, though at the time he was still an apprentice.

New Mexico racing officials suspended him for five years after he was reportedly caught using an electrical device back in 2007.

Chapa was also suspected of using a prohibited device after a Peta investigation in 2014 caught assistant trainer Scott Blasi on tape talking about the jockey using an electric buzzer.

'That silly-a-- Roman Chapa put it in his mouth in New Mexico,' Blasi was heard saying to jockey Gary Stevens and trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

'They came in to shake him down, he stuck it in his mouth, then he spit it out in his wash bucket,' Blasi added.

Chapa also received a sentence of 10 days in 2002 for a plea deal on cruelty to animals charges, after police said Chapa 'tortured an animal by beating it with a strap'.

Personally I think he needs to be banned!