An independent judicial panel has issued a £10,000 (about US$12,000) fine to trainer Richard Hannon over a three-year-old positive test for arsenic, according to the Racing Post.
Hannon trainee Oh Purple Reign returned a positive test for 426 micrograms of arsenic per milligram of urine from a pre-race sample on Sept. 26, 2019. The filly finished last of six at Newmarket that day.
During a hearing held on May 26, 2022, it was revealed that the British Horseracing Authority's then-director of equine health, David Sykes, had called Hannon prior Oh Purple Reign's positive test in September. The BHA began testing for arsenic in January of 2019, and Sykes told Hannon that his horses had been returning elevated levels of arsenic, including one which has nearly breached the 300 microgram per milliliter threshold, and suggested to the trainer that the use of a supplement containing seaweed was a potential cause.
BHA representative Charlotte Davison told the judicial panel: “Mr. Hannon is asking you to effectively determine that any trainer can turn a blind eye to what is in the supplements they are feeding their horses and then escape penalty by simply saying they didn't know what they contained.”
The judicial panel decided to impose the maximum possible fine of £10,000, as set out in the rules of racing.
“The rules must be upheld and we are particularly concerned that this is not the first time Mr Hannon has appeared before the disciplinary panel,” said panel chair Brian Barker QC.
Hannon has previously been fined three times for unintentional positives for metabolites of Tramadol.
Read more at racingpost.com.
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