By: Adam Pengilly
Peter Moody’s wretched start to the new year has only worsened after Racing NSW stewards said the leading Victorian trainer would face a fresh inquiry into positive swabs north of the border.
A little more than a week after saying Racing Victoria stewards had notified him one of his runners had returned illegal levels of the fad drug cobalt, Moody has been asked by Racing NSW to front an inquiry next month into House Of Hingis recording positives from two races in November.
The filly was found to have the anti-inflammatory drug Ibuprofen in her system after a pre-race blood sample before running fifth at Rosehill on November 15.
She was found to have the same substance in her system in a pre-race blood sample and post-race urine sample after running third at Warwick Farm on November 28.
Ibuprofen can mask pain in a horse and is often a healer for tendon injuries, but is not deemed a performance enhancer. It is the same substance found in one of Gary Portelli’s horses in September and the trainer later had his fine reduced to $3000 on appeal.
“It’s an analgesic and inflammatory agent and there’s no current registered veterinary pharmaceutical preparations containing Ibuprofen available in Australia for use in horses, but there are a number of human pharmaceutical brands
Stewards took samples from Moody’s entire team at his satellite Randwick stable last month, which all returned negative.
Moody, who is yet to be charged over the swabs and is in New Zealand for the Karaka sales, will face stewards at the Racing NSW offices on February 2.
It is the second time in five days Moody has earned the ire of stewards in NSW after his Sydney foreperson Clare Cunningham was charged with not informing the stewards of a change of tactics in Koroibete’s front-running win at Randwick on Saturday.
Moody was asked to tender evidence on that charge after Jason Collett let Koroibete roll to the lead after racing midfield at his previous start.
That charge pales into insignificance to the storm Moody has weathered in Victoria after he was the first of three high-profile Victorian trainers to admit they were being investigated over their horses returning irregular levels to cobalt during the spring carnival.
Moody’s horse was Lidari, which ran second in the group 1 Turnbull Stakes at Flemington in October.
Less than 24 hours after Moody told his owners of the cobalt findings, Mark Kavanagh and Danny O’Brien also admitted Racing Victoria had told them of horses under their care had returned cobalt levels above the 200 micrograms per litre of urine threshold.
Kavanagh’s Magicool was found to have exceeded the level when winning the listed UCI Stakes while O’Brien had three horses – Victoria Derby runner-up Bondeiger, Caravan Rolls On when he ran eighth in the Lexus Stakes and De Little Engine after a Ballarat win in November – all in question.
Moody, Kavanagh and O’Brien are yet to be charged over the findings.
Racing NSW stewards are holding an inquiry into Darren Smith’s admission he used cobalt on some of his horses after 16 samples from 13 horses were certified by two laboratories as showing high concentrations of the drug, which increases red blood cell production.
Smith, who is yet to be charged, and his legal counsel have until Friday to make further submissions.
