By James Burn

DISGRACED trainer Philip Fenton, who is facing a three-year-ban from racing, tried to hide banned substances from officials when they visited his yard, a report from the Turf Club has said.

Fenton was hit with the suspension on Saturday after being found guilty of eight charges of possessing anabolic steroids that are illegal for use on horses in Ireland in Carrick-on-Suir District Court last month.

A Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer with Dunguib in 2009, Fenton, who plans to appeal the severity of his ban, was said to have tried to hide the substances from Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine inspectors when they visited his stable in January 2012.

Asked why a member of staff had tried to hide the drugs, which were in a cardboard box covered by a horserug, Fenton “indicated that it would lessen the effects of the visit”.

He also told officials the substances had been sourced from a local vet and a former jockey who works in Dubai.

The report added that Fenton denied administering the steroids to his horses, although it noted how Turf Club head of security Christoper Gordon described the trainer as “less than truthful and uncooperative”.

“He

[Fenton] provided little if any meaningful cooperation on the circumstances in which the remedies were found in his yard including their origin,” read the report. “Mr Gordon gave further details concerning this lack of cooperation with the Turf Club investigation.”

The Turf Club said the ban “needed to send a message that the possession of an anabolic steroid is completely unacceptable”.