Toowoomba horse racing identity Ben Currie has received an 18-month disqualification from racing after a horse he oversaw was found with cocaine in its system.
Racehorse End Assembly returned the positive post-race sample after a December 2022 race at the Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane.
Mr Currie's father, trainer Mark Currie, was not physically present at the race and had left his son in charge of the horse.
Mark Currie has been fined $15,000 for his involvement.
End Assembly's win, where it won $116,000 in prize money, has been disqualified.
The father and son duo had both pleaded not guilty at the QRIC inquiry and strenuously denied giving the horse cocaine.
"The last time I touched the horse it was clean," Ben Currie told the inquiry.
"Why would anyone in their right mind do that?"
The inquiry in March heard that in the past 10 years there had only been two occasions where thoroughbred samples had tested positive for cocaine and that both cases were of horses Ben Currie trained.
During a sentencing hearing in Brisbane in April, a statutory declaration was provided to stewards from a racegoer who said he had consumed cocaine at the race and then patted End Assembly.
But this evidence was rejected by stewards.
After the initial hearing in March, the Curries told the ABC they would be appealing the outcome.
