As reported by Jeremy Wilkinson for the New Zealand Herald, a winning racehorse who tested positive for methamphetamine was likely contaminated with the drug by his running trainer.
Now Ival Brownlee will not be able to race or train horses for the next 18 months after he also tested positive for the drug despite denying taking it.
According to a summary of facts released by the Racing Integrity Board (RIB), Brownlee entered 7-year-old mare Emily Bay for a Waikato Harness Club race in Cambridge at the end of October last year.
The horse won its race and was swabbed and urine tested, and a month later when the tests came back it showed methamphetamine in its system.
Race investigators then visited Brownlee’s training location in Pōkeno and both he and his father, who owns the horse, agreed to be drug tested as well.
Forensic swabs were also taken from the truck used to transport the horse and from the stables, which were found to be free of traces of the Class A drug.
Although a urine sample from Brownlee was also clear, a hair follicle sample returned a positive result for methamphetamine, amphetamine and THC acid.
Brownlee claimed he had not used meth since 2012.
Although none of Brownlee’s horses have ever passed a drug test before, he was disqualified from the racing industry in 2012 for a positive meth test, and again in 2015 after racing investigators found cannabis in his system.
The RIB subsequently filed charges against Brownlee, demanding his disqualification from the industry, noting that methamphetamine use struck at the heart of the industry’s “social license.”
“The presence of the substance alone has the potential to undermine public confidence in race results,” the board said.
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by Jeremy Wilkinson for The NZ Herald
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