Cobalt concern for world racing regulators

World racing regulators are concerned about the use of cobalt as a performance-enhancing substance, a Victorian tribunal has heard.

Father-and-son trainers Lee and Shannon Hope face a minimum three-year disqualification for intentionally administering cobalt to three of their horses.

Racing Victoria stewards’ legal counsel James Ogilvy says the penalty should send a message to trainers that such conduct will not be tolerated.

“There has been significant concern by all racing regulators around the world. It is not an Australian phenomenon,” Ogilvy told the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board.

Victoria has a raceday threshold of 200 micrograms of cobalt per litre of urine but Ogilvy said the allowed level was 100 micrograms in most other parts of the world.

He said the concerns also extended to the use of cobalt in human sport, with the World Anti-Doping Authority adding it as a prohibited substance.

The Hopes’ legal counsel Robert Stitt QC has argued the RAD Board should use its judicial discretion or special circumstances allowances to impose a fine rather than disqualification on Lee Hope.

Stitt asked for a fine for Shannon Hope or otherwise a disqualification that was not crushing on him.

He said there had been a “tsunami of publicity” about cobalt and Shannon Hope had “over-egged the pudding” by using legitimate supplements containing cobalt, as opposed to a case of intravenously administering cobalt chloride to a horse.

Stitt said character references showed racehorse owners held the Hopes in high regard and would continue to use them as trainers.

Thoroughbred breeder Grant Sheldon said the Hopes had trained seven horses for him at their country Victorian stables over the past seven years and he would continue to work with them.

“I had no reason to ever question their integrity at any point,” he told the board on Thursday.

The RAD Board will announce its decision on penalty early next week.