Jockey Banned for Life for Illegal Bush Track Racing Following PETA Investigation

For Immediate Release:
January 8, 2026

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Today, the California Horse Racing Board’s (CHRB) stewards approved a settlement agreement that permanently suspends jockey Jose Nicasio—who was the fifth-leading Quarter Horse Jockey in the state for 2025, with over $10 million in career earnings—from participating in regulated races in California. The agreement follows a year-long PETA investigation into Nicasio’s activities at unregulated “bush” tracks, which documented the jockey racing in dozens of bush races and repeatedly using an electric shock device on horses. The agreement—which effectively imposes a lifetime ban on Nicasio racing in California—was reached at a December 17 hearing and went into effect today.

PETA is set to submit complaints against five more CHRB-licensed jockeys showing evidence of their participation in bush track races.

The complaint against Nicasio was filed in July 2025, after PETA Vice President and lead investigator Hannah Schein presented evidence of Nicasio’s bush track activities to the CHRB, sparking commissioners to comment, “I’m angry by what I’ve seen here,” and “I’m sick to my stomach,” and to call the activities “heinous.”

“Nicasio is not a unique case—other licensed jockeys are still racing at cruel and deadly bush tracks, where horses are drugged, shocked, and run to death,” says Schein. “PETA thanks the CHRB for making an example out of Nicasio and urges it to oust every licensee caught at a bush track.”

The CHRB prohibited horse racing licensees—including owners, trainers, and jockeys—from participating in or attending bush track races starting in 2024 following a major PETA investigation, which documented rampant doping with methamphetamine, cocaine, and other drugs; the use of prohibited electric shock devices; fatal horse breakdowns; jockey injuries and deaths; and hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal gambling.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any other way”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.