The Peter Moody court case over the ongoing cobalt scandal continues apace, and it appears it will continue to do so until February at least. The trial resumes Monday when seven more witnesses are to be called, but legal counsel for the stewards is not available after that session comes to a close and both sets of legal teams are on holidays for the month of January. Thursday saw things heat up–not just outside where high temperatures have already caused some race-meetings to be cancelled–but also within the courtroom, as Moody’s self-proclaimed professional incompetence was severely called into question by QC Jeff Gleeson. In a heated exchange, Gleeson said Moody had displayed “deliberate and selective amnesia” during his cross-examination about how his horse Lidari (Fr) (Acclamation {GB}) came to produce a urine sample with twice the legal limit for cobalt in 2014.

As reported on racing.com, Moody’s policy of allowing his staff an un-monitored approach to feeding his horses was “in hindsight wrong.”

Gleeson was not giving up, however, and countered, “There will be a submission to the board advanced by me that you have shown gross negligence the way this was allowed to happen.”

Despite some high-profile bans and the likelihood of more to follow, Moody is still not convinced of the seriousness of the ongoing scandal and commented, “I believe [cobalt] is a non-issue in racing. It is a drug blown out of proportion. I didn’t even think I needed legal representation when first informed of the illegal reading of Lidari.”