Champion Victorian trainer Peter Moody has three charges to answer over a cobalt positive returned by Lidari in the Group I Turnbull Stakes at Flemington last year.
Racing Victoria announced on Friday that Moody has been charged after a swab taken from Lidari returned cobalt levels above the legal 200 micrograms per litre in urine threshold.
“The concentration of cobalt detected in the urine sample was determined by ChemCentre to be 380 micrograms per litre (with a 38 microgram per litre measurement of uncertainty) and by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Racing Laboratory to be 410 micrograms per litre,” an RV statement read.
The three charges issued against Moody are;
1. AR 175(h)(i) – that Mr Moody administered, or caused to be administered, the prohibited substance cobalt for the purpose of affecting the performance of Lidari in the race;
2. AR 175(h)(ii) – that Mr Moody administered, or caused to be administered, the prohibited substance cobalt which was detected in a sample taken from Lidari prior to or following its race;
3. AR 178 – that Mr Moody brought Lidari to race with the prohibited substance cobalt in its system.
The charges will be heard before the Victorian Racing Appeals and Disciplinary (RAD) board on a date to be fixed.
“This has been an exhaustive and complex investigation by Racing Victoria’s integrity services team into the sample returned by the Mr Moody-trained Lidari,” RV Executive General Manager – Integrity Services Dayle Brown said in a statement.
“The issuing of these charges against Mr Moody means that we have now completed the investigative phase into the elevated cobalt samples returned by horses from four Victorian stables.
“Mr Moody, like the trainers from the other three stables, will have the opportunity to defend the charges brought against him before the independent RAD Board and we hope that this can occur at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Moody is the fourth Victorian trainer to face charges over cobalt positives after stewards recently charged Mark Kavanagh, Danny O’Brien and Lee and Shannon Hope.
The dates are still to be finalised for those matters as well.
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Clinton Payne