Trainer Gerard Butler has celebrated a Listed win ahead of his appearance at an inquiry into the use of a banned steroid on horses in his care.
Butler sent Prince Alzain out to win Saturday’s Churchill Stakes at Lingfield under star apprentice Oisin Murphy and the horse’s aim next year will be the new Good Friday meeting at the same course.
On Monday Butler is scheduled to front the British Horseracing Authority which has set aside three days for a hearing into the use of the product Sungate on horses in his stable.
Earlier this year, several of Butler’s horses tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol, an ingredient of Sungate, a product he publicly admitted using in the stable.
After an investigation into the product, the BHA said in August it would not bring charges against nine trainers identified for using the drug because there were no positive samples and the treatments were advised and administered by veterinary surgeons and fully recorded in medical records.
However, in Butler’s case, the trainer admitted to injecting four horses himself despite not being a registered veterinary surgeon. The charges against him also include his failure to keep a record of treatments for five horses.
Butler, who has been judged with breaching conduct rules, could face a lengthy ban.
