Trainer Peter Moody has been cleared of intentionally administering cobalt to affect a racehorse’s performance.
Moody has instead been found guilty of a lesser administration charge with a judge declaring “the buck stops with him” after Lidari returned a cobalt level double the allowed threshold.
He was cleared of the most serious charge of administration for the purpose of affecting the horse’s performance in a race, which would have carried a minimum three-year ban.
Moody said he felt vindicated.
“We’ve never cheated. We’ve never had to cheat,” he told reporters.
Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board chairman Judge John Bowman said cobalt found its way into Lidari as a result of something occurring within the Moody stable, but the board was not satisfied the trainer administered it to affect Lidari’s race performance.
“Carelessness or even negligence is not purposeful administration,” he said.
Judge Bowman said the ultimate responsibility rested with Moody and criticised significant carelessness in his stable’s operations.
“Lidari was under the care and control of Mr Moody and the buck stops with him,” he said.
“At the very least, Mr Moody failed to prevent the prohibited substance finding its way into Lidari as a result of something occurring within his stables.”
Moody’s defence had blamed Lidari’s elevated cobalt reading after his second in the 2014 Turnbull Stakes on a stablehand mistakenly giving the horse large doses of oral hoof treatment Availa for months.
Racing Victoria stewards’ legal counsel Jeff Gleeson QC last month said it was a lie, and Moody was central to that lie, in a failed attempt to concoct an innocent explanation for Lidari’s cobalt reading.
Judge Bowman said the stablehand and Moody’s main feed manager were poor witnesses.
But he said the board did not conclude Moody was being untruthful when he had no explanation for the cobalt reading other than what might have been due to the Availa supplementation.
Moody said the stable’s practices had rightly been called into question.
“Maybe I’ve been too successful for too long for my own good and hadn’t thought of rectifying practices within my stable that ultimately probably wouldn’t have allowed this to happen.”
The RAD Board will hear submissions on penalty on Thursday afternoon.
The lesser administration charge carries no minimum penalty, which could be a fine or a disqualification.
