Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
In April 2024, the story broke across several news outlets that five horses from five Victorian stables had returned positive raceday swabs for Formestane and 4-Hydroxytestosterone. Since then, the number has expanded to 24 trainers across the thoroughbred and harness racing codes, but it was revealed earlier this week that Racing Victoria has conceded to a number of those trainers that they did not administer the drugs to their horses.
Formestane is a drug used overseas for treating aggressive breast cancer, but it is not approved for use in humans or animals by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA), while 4-Hydroxytestosterone is an anabolic steroid, which is prohibited under the Australian Rules Of Racing. All raceday urine samples were, as is routine, analysed by Racing Analytical Services Limited.
Under the Rules, detection of the latter substance typically comes with a penalty that prohibits a horse from starting in an official trial, jump-out, or race for 12 months from the date that the sample was collected.
Racing Victoria originally laid charges against Mark and Levi Kavanagh, Amy and Ash Yargi, Symon Wilde, Julius Sandhu, and Smiley Chan for positives to the drug, with the actual infractions dating back as far as February 2023, and it was reported at the time that a tribunal date was yet to be fixed. The most high profile horse with a positive swab is multiple Group winner Sirileo Miss (Pride Of Dubai), who has since retired.
Sirileo Miss | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Since then, a number of other stables have been informed of positive raceday swab results for the substances, including Tom Dabernig, Matthew Brown, Lee and Shannon Hope, Lloyd Kennewell, and Patrick Payne.
On Monday, betsy.com reported that Racing Victoria and Darren Sheale, representing the original five stables with positive swabs, had reached an agreement where Racing Victoria would concede that it “will not seek to establish that the detected substances are from exogenous origin”; an admission that the stables did not administer the substances found in raceday samples.
Racing Victoria also concedes that it has no evidence that the trainers did not tell stewards the truth when questioned about the samples, and has withdrawn evidence given by RV Regulatory Veterinarian Dr Edwina Wilkes that suggests the drugs were administered.
In return, the five stables would have to plead guilty to a presentation charge, which is an admission of the drugs being actually in the urine samples. The agreement is the result of a five-day hearing before the Victorian Racing Tribunal that took place in December.
All of the trainers have maintained their innocence, and on Friday, the Australian Trainers’ Association’s President Troy Corstens has publicly thrown his support behind the trainers in their endeavours to bring the case to a close. Corstens confirmed that ATA representative Paul Maher had been present for the hearing in December.
The Tribunal will reconvene on Tuesday, February 24, to hear the trainers’ final plea and to administer penalties for the substances.
