Ernie Paragallo was sentenced to two years in jail and fined $33,000 following his conviction on 33 counts of animal cruelty for starving and neglecting 177 horses.

Paragallo received the maximum jail time and fine.

In April 2009, a raid took place on Paragallo’s Center Brook Farm in Climax, N.Y, where 177 Thoroughbreds were found in terrible condition. The horses obviously suffered from long-term neglect. All horses were malnourished and anemic; several suffered from untreated open wounds and had lice and skin diseases.  

Paragallo was a fixture in New York Thoroughbred racing starting 4,686 runners and earning $20.6 million in purses according to The New York Times. Several of his horses have run in the Triple Crown races, and he’s a half owner of Unbridled’s Song, who commands a stud fee of $100,000.