The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has banned two men from racing for a period of 10 years, following a hearing regarding the alleged doping of Ladies First in September 2018.
The offense took place at Newcastle, where the two men were reportedly recorded on CCTV entering the racecourse stables and seemingly feeding something to the filly shortly before she was due to run in the mile handicap.
Ladies First was the favorite for the race with odds of 6-4, but ended up in eighth place out of nine runners, a full 22 lengths behind the winner.
The horse tested positive for a beta-blocker known as Timolol, and was disqualified from the race.
At the time, the horse’s trainer, Mick Easterby, was fined the token amount of 1p under a strict liability rule that existed in 2018 when the offense was committed, but that has since been changed.
The BHA has confirmed that there was never any suggestion that Easterby was responsible for, or aware of, the administration of the banned substance.
A token fine such as this was, under the previous rule, considered to be an acknowledgment of the responsibility and obligations that an individual has as a horse’s trainer, and in no way implicates the trainer in the actual offense.
The men involved in the alleged doping have been named as Neil Waggot and Stephen Walker.
They are believed to have been recently employed by the Newcastle stable manager as maintenance workers.
It was claimed at the hearing that the two men were also caught approaching another horse, Victoriano, another favorite who was beaten that day.
Hair tests showed that the horse had also been given Timolol.
Waggot and Walker did not cooperate with authorities and were not present at the hearing.
Their motivation is still unclear.