Damian Sheales, the attorney for trainers Danny O’Brien and Mark Kavanagh–who face charges for cobalt positives of horses under their care–claimed at the conclusion of the trainers’ hearing Friday that they were “victims” of Dr. Tom Brennan, who provided vitamin drips that reportedly contained cobalt, according to Racing.com. Final submissions were heard from both sides Friday, with a decision set to come next week.
Sheales argued the trainers were not aware the vitamin drips provided by Brennan contained cobalt. Sheales pointed out that Kavanagh had taken Magicool (Aus) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) off the drip prior to his win in the G1 Victoria Derby–a sign he was not trying to enhance the horse’s performance–and he also attacked the stewards’ processes, saying their pre-screening tests in November 2014 of two of O’Brien’s horses would have shown the cobalt spikes.
“You’d think a trainer would be replicating exactly what had caused Magicool to perform so well just a few weeks earlier,” Sheales said, according to Racing.com. “Can anyone offer any sensible explanation as to why he pulled the drips?”
Jeff Gleeson, representing the stewards, portrayed O’Brien and Kavanagh as liars. Gleeson accused O’Brien of lying at least seven times during his evidence and he accused Kavanagh of lying about a drip trial he had undertaken with Dr. Brennan, according to Racing.com.
“The motivation is as obvious as it is old,” Gleeson said. “They wanted to win, they thought the substance could help and they thought they could get away with it.”
The board will announce their decisions in the cases next week.
