Trainer Desleigh Forster has beaten an animal cruelty-related charge on appeal and the six-month ban imposed previously on her for her alleged actions relating to the use of a prohibitive stockwhip has been set aside.
She has however been fined $1000 for possession of a stockwhip and $6000 for the use of a stockwhip.
The use … with Forster stating she had only flicked the whip to make a noise to get the horse to enter a swimming pool … was not deemed as animal cruelty according to a veterinarian who gave evidence to the Appeal Board on the matter. That evidence was accepted by Queensland’s new Racing Appeals Board, who then duly set aside the animal cruelty charge.
A six-month ban would have effectively crippled Forster’s training business, in the short term at least. She has been training on a stay of proceedings pending the finding of the Racing Appeals Board.
After a very testing couple of weeks Forster is now free to move forward with her plan of attack for the Queensland Winter Carnival, where she became a Group 1 winning trainer last year when her Queensland Horse Of the Year Apache Chase won the Kingsford-Smith Cup.
