The injection that caused Yanworth to be disqualified from the Champion Hurdle was administered less than three weeks before the race, according to the British Horseracing Authority’s disciplinary panel, which published its findings on Monday. The panel added that it was “unreasonable” for the horse’s connections not to arrange an elective test in the days before the Cheltenham Festival race on 14 March, to make sure that the anti-inflammatory given to him had cleared his system.
“We thought it wouldn’t be a problem but clearly we were wrong,” said Alan King, Yanworth’s trainer, when asked about the case on Monday night. “I’d rather not say any more. It’s happened and we’ll move on.” King was fined £2,000 by the BHA after last week’s hearing and Yanworth was disqualified from the race, in which he finished a disappointing seventh.
The panel found that Yanworth had been injected with Adcortyl to treat “lameness and soreness” and that this was the source of the triamcinolone acetonide (TCA) for which he eventually tested positive. The rules of racing allow for such treatment, so long as the TCA has cleared a horse’s system by raceday.
In fact, Yanworth had also been injected with TCA before his previous race, the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton on 18 February, which he won. On that occasion, the injection had been 16 days earlier but a post-race test showed no prohibited substances; however, the panel noted, Yanworth’s connections probably did not know until some time after the Champion Hurdle that the post-Wincanton test had been clear.
Four days after winning at Wincanton, Yanworth was inspected at King’s Wiltshire yard by Ger Kelly, a vet based in Fethard who treats many horses owned by JP McManus, including Yanworth. Kelly found lameness, recommended a dose of Adcortyl and injected it himself. The Champion Hurdle, in which Yanworth started favourite, took place 20 days later.
King’s solicitor told the panel that the trainer had relied on the advice of Kelly and his own vet, Jeremy Swan, that “there was no real risk” of the drug persisting in Yanworth’s system as far as the Cheltenham race. “That being so, elective testing was not considered relevant and Mr King was naturally content to rely on that advice,” the solicitor’s statement said.
It added that, according to the vets, hock injections presented a known risk of a drug remaining in circulation for longer than expected but injections at other sites were less problematic and that Yanworth had been injected in a stifle, a joint towards the top of a horse’s hind leg.
But the panel pointed to other cases in the past two years in which TCA had circulated in a horse’s system for longer than 20 days, including a King-trained horse who tested positive 51 days after treatment. “The decision not to pursue elective testing was an unreasonable one,” the panel ruled, pointing out that, at £123.92 plus VAT, an elective test “would not break the bank”.
King’s solicitor told the panel that the trainer would not be using Adcortyl again but the panel noted that it and other corticosteroids would continue to be used by trainers on veterinary advice for equine welfare.
“What matters,” the panel added, “is the taking of proper precautions to ensure that it does not remain in a horse’s system at the time of a racing engagement. And given the uncertainties over survival times of corticosteroids which have come to general knowledge in recent years, the recourse to elective testing seems to the panel a wiser path to follow.”
A BHA source estimated that only 15 to 20 elective tests are currently carried out each year, despite the procedure being so affordable in the context of annual training fees amounting to £20,000 or so. The National Trainers Federation, which has repeatedly told its members about the availability of elective testing, will now consider whether trainers need to be positively advised to use that system, at least in the build-up to major races.
Yanworth’s case is one of the first to be dealt with by a BHA disciplinary panel since the panel became structurally independent from the regulator itself. The detail offered in the published reasons suggests the new system may be a significant upgrade on the old.
Tuesday’s tips by Chris Cook
Brighton 5.45 Sackeb 6.15 Justice Rock 6.45 Robin’s Purse 7.15 Cape Discovery 7.45 Lagertha 8.15 Bradfield Magic 8.45 Maazel (nb)
Pontefract 2.10 Collingham Park 2.40 Lightoller 3.10 Dawn Of Hope 3.40 Bamber Bridge 4.10 Precision 4.40 Edgar Allan Poe 5.10 Desert Ruler
Uttoxeter 6.05 Commanche Chieftain 6.35 Skilled 7.05 Night At Tara 7.35 The Yank 8.05 Sweet Holly 8.35 Terry The Fish 9.05 Sky Of Stars (nap)
Wolverhampton 1.55 Bogsnog 2.25 Point North 2.55 Danzan 3.25 Viola Park 3.55 Bruny Island 4.25 Narjes 4.55 Glittering Jewel 5.25 Waterville Dancer
