Trainer Peter Moody wants to get his penalty for a lesser cobalt offence over with so he can move forward.
Moody has been cleared of the most serious charge of intentionally administering cobalt to affect a racehorse’s performance, which would have carried a minimum three-year ban.
He was instead found guilty of a lesser offence which carries no minimum penalty and will likely result in a fine and/or much shorter ban.
The defence and Racing Victoria stewards will make submissions on penalty to Victoria’s Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board on Thursday afternoon, with Moody hoping for a quick decision.
“It’s trying, no doubt in the world,” Moody said about the case’s impact.
“That’s why we want a quick resolution to this and hopefully in 24 hours or a bit longer we’ll have some finality and we can put this to bed and move forward.”
The RAD Board found something occurred within Moody’s stables for the prohibited substance to end up in Lidari but it was not satisfied the cobalt was administered to affect the horse’s October 2014 Turnbull Stakes performance.
Moody’s defence blamed Lidari’s elevated cobalt reading on a stablehand mistakenly giving the horse large doses of oral hoof treatment Availa for months.
The RAD Board said there was significant carelessness, for which Moody was responsible, in the operation of the stables, particularly regarding the administration of cobalt as well as general feeding, supplementation and injection procedures.
Moody acknowledged shortcomings in his stable operations but said what happened with Lidari was a mistake.
“We try and put practices in place to enable it not to happen again but I can’t guarantee it, we’re human.”
