By: Clinton Payne

In Her Time’s Group II Sydney Stakes win in 2017 is under a cloud after it was revealed the mare returned elevated levels of formaldehyde – an embalming fluid – during the Ben Smith inquiry on Tuesday.

Stewards continued their inquiry into the embattled trainer’s actions at the offices of Racing NSW on Tuesday after excessive levels of cobalt were returned in four samples taken from Smith-trained horses last year.

Two raceday samples and two out-of-competition samples were found to contain cobalt levels in excess of the 100mg/L threshold.

The two out-of-competition tests, pertaining to El Dorado Dreaming and Tabrobane, were conducted on the morning of September 11, when stewards raided Smith’s stables and discovered “a number of unlabelled and/or unregistered substances”.

One of those unlabelled and/or unregistered substances was found to be formaldehyde, a substance that Racing NSW Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Toby Koenig told the hearing had “welfare implications” and “long-term carcinogenic concerns”.

Stewards questioned Smith after Dr Adam Cawley of the Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory’s (ARFL) revealed that in September 2015, ARFL started doing a screening test for formaldehyde due to intelligence is was being used in other racing codes.

In the past it was known to be injected into horses to prevent bleeding. It is also believed to make a horse’s hooves harder.

On October 18, four days after In Her Time won the Sydney Stakes, Crawley told stewards a “strip test” showed In Her Time returned a reading of “200 milligrams per litre (mg/L) or greater”.

Crawley told the hearing the strip “was so dark” in his opinion, on the balance of probability, the actual formaldehyde presence would have been “significantly greater” than the 200 (mg/L) limit of the test.

The positive reading was not certified due to no registered accredited testing protocols being available worldwide for the prohibited substance which Koenig said, “has no therapeutic place in horse medicine”.

Smith adamantly denied ever giving the brown unlabelled bottle containing formaldehyde to In Her Time telling stewards he “never” treated the mare with the substance from the bottle “100 percent – she’s never been a bleeder”.

“She never had that,” he said. “She never had that at any stage of her career.”

Stewards also alleged at least three horses-trained by Smith had been treated on raceday.

Smith denied the allegations brought about by a series of text messages sent between himself, his brother and stable employee Daniel Smith and Emma Bickley, another of his form stable staff members, both of whom failed to attend Tuesday’s hearing.

Bickley had said in a statement to stewards she recalled “twice” giving BCA paste, an amino acid paste, “on raceday” to Dream Charge and Elaborate.

Stewards also produced a text message from Bickley to another former stable staff member known as Chloe stating “can you just make sure Blackie (Antedote) doesn’t have yellow paste around his mouth. There’s a towel on the bin I use for In Her Time”.

The text was sent at 1.34pm on March 9, 2018, Antedote finished 10th of 13 at Newcastle later that day at 5.35pm.

Smith claimed he couldn’t recall any of the incidents stating “there’s a lot of stuff I can’t remember at that time”.

During the last sitting of the inquiry on February 13, it was revealed the trainer was suffering from mental health issues and substance abuse and on Tuesday he described it as “bad times”.

He tendered evidence of a medical report relating to his mental health which revealed abuse of prescription painkillers for a chronic back injury, alcoholism and depression.

Stewards also questioned Smith about his relationship with harness racing trainer Neil Costello.

Forensic investigation of Smith’s mobile phone made Costello a person of interest however Costello has refused to give evidence during the hearing and was warned off Australian racetracks last year.

Costello was providing horse products to Smith at a significantly cheaper price than his local supplier.

Five of the unlabelled products, including the bottle that contained formaldehyde, confiscated by stewards during their raid on Smith’s stable last year were supplied to him by Costello and all showed a range of different prohibited substances when tested by ARFL.

“I thought it was all above board,” Smith said. “Yes, I was irresponsible.”

At the conclusion of questioning stewards adjourned to consider the latest evidence and identify if any more charges will be levelled against the suspended trainer or any other individuals.

Smith is currently facing two charges of “refusing to give evidence” and “providing false evidence” as well as two raceday samples and two out-of-competition samples which were found to contain cobalt levels in excess of the 100mg/L threshold.

The matter will resume on a date to be fixed.