Trainer Sam Kavanagh had every expectation he was giving his horses vitamins and nothing illicit, his lawyer has told an inquiry into elevated cobalt levels in some of his runners.
Tony Hartnell said Kavanagh relied on his vet, Dr Tom Brennan, who had assured him a bottle labelled Vitamin Complex was indeed just that.
Hartnell is making his submissions to Racing NSW stewards on a raft of charges Kavanagh faces, sparked by the presence of caffeine and cobalt in a sample taken from Midsummer Sun after he won the Gosford Cup in January.
Kavanagh has admitted to giving his horses Vitamin Complex but only as a post-gallop recovery supplement.
“One thing this relies on is knowledge,” Hartnell said.
“Sam Kavanagh relied almost entirely on Tom Brennan.”
Analysis of a bottle of Vitamin Complex found at Kavanagh’s stable showed cobalt levels 175 times what would normally be in a vitamin supplement.
Hartnell will make further submissions on Thursday afternoon over unlabelled and unregistered products found in the Kavanagh stable.
Brennan originally told the inquiry the substance did not come from his practice, the Flemington Equine Clinic.
He has since retracted that evidence and admitted supplying the substance to Kavanagh which he said he got from a former clinic partner, Dr Adam Matthews.
As well as being charged by Racing NSW officials, Brennan has to answer to stewards in Victoria where trainers Danny O’Brien and Mark Kavanagh, father of Sam, face charges over cobalt.
