Advertisement

Talking Horses: BHA moves to plug strict-liability rules raises hackles

<span>Photograph: John Stillwell/PA</span>
Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

The trade body representing Britain’s trainers said it was “very disappointed” after the British Horseracing Authority finally published plans to plug the hole left in its “strict liability” anti-doping rules by two high-profile cases in 2017.

Philip Hobbs and Hughie Morrison avoided serious sanctions in 2017 after horses in their yards returned positive tests for banned substances. A disciplinary panel imposed no penalty on Hobbs after Keep Moving tested positive for cetirizin, an antihistamine, in January 2017, a decision which was upheld following an appeal by the BHA.

Morrison was fined £1,000 after his filly Our Little Sister tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone, a much more serious offence with an entry-point penalty of a two-year ban from racing. Morrison had previously offered a £10,000 reward to anyone able to clear his name.

Related: Talking Horses: 40% drop in Levy reserves as racing counts Covid cost

Both cases cast a spotlight on the BHA’s strict liability approach to the regulation of banned substances, which deems a trainer responsible for any drug in a horse’s system, irrespective of how it came to be there, unless they can prove beyond doubt how it got there. While the source of the banned drug remained a mystery in both cases, the disciplinary panel decided the trainers could not be blamed for its presence and should receive a more lenient penalty.

This prompted Roderick Moore, the barrister who represented Hobbs, to suggest that while “the BHA hoped that the appeal board would hold that to escape a personal penalty, the trainer needs to prove exactly how the banned substance came to be in the horse”, the ruling “confirmed this is not what the rule says, merely what the BHA would like it to say”.

From 1 September this is precisely what the rule will say. In order to avoid a personal penalty – in addition, of course, to the automatic disqualification of their horse – a trainer “must establish the precise source of the positive finding and that they had taken all possible precautions”.

The BHA has also changed its rules to allow for the imposition of a suspended disqualification from the sport in serious cases, such as those involving steroids, where the trainer has taken all possible steps to prevent administration of a banned drug.

The burden of proof remains with the trainer and the National Trainers’ Federation feels this “reverses the principle of innocent until proven guilty”, pointing out that even a suspended disqualification could have an impact on their career.

“Yes, these are serious substances,” Rupert Arnold, the NTF’s chief executive, said “and it is important that trainers are encouraged to employ best practice and avoid these substances getting into a horse’s system at all opportunities. But at low-level culpability, where they are deemed to have taken all precautions, we think a suspended disqualification is a black mark against a trainer’s name, it’s on their record and it’s bound to have a reputational effect.”

The BHA faces the same balancing act as any other sporting regulator when it comes to doping offences, as it needs to protect participants from false or malicious accusations of wrong-doing without creating a “cheat’s charter” for dopers in the process. The authority said it believes its new rules will bring British racing “further into line with other sports and ensure clarity for all involved in anti-doping breaches”.

Arnold, though, argues that basic differences between racing and other sports should also be acknowledged. “It was clear immediately after [the Hobbs case] that they would seek to change the rules,” he says. “They want to bring it more in line with other sporting regulation.

“The difference is that with human athletes, it’s reasonable to expect them to know what’s gone into their system and to be very careful about that and monitoring it. But horses live in a different environment and it’s more difficult for trainers to be able to control everything a horse comes into contact with, and control access to that horse. It’s a different environment and context.

“We felt that under the existing system, the disciplinary panel were exercising their discretion in a reasonable way and looking at the circumstances and evidence in each case.”

For now, the NTF feels it has exhausted the consultation process and no immediate challenge to the new rule is likely. However, there will surely be a case to test it, and the panel’s willingness to use its discretion, at some point in the future.

Ripon
12.45
Perfect Times 1.15 Bossipop 1.45 Gamesome 2.20 Locket (nb) 2.50 Gold Arch 3.20 Fraternity (nap) 3.50 St Gallen 4.20 Finely Tuned

Bath
2.10
Grey Sparkle 2.40 Al Dawodiya 3.10 Princely 3.40 Show Me The Bubbly 4.10 Silver Cliffs 4.40 Overwrite 5.10 Rock Of Fame 5.40 Lord Warburton

Stratford-on-Avon
4.15
Courtandbould 4.50 Veiled Secret 5.20 See The Sea 5.50 Demon D’Aunou 6.20 Sellingallthetime 6.50 Glendun 7.20 Darling Maltaix 7.50 Monty’s Award 8.20 Beholden

Thursday’s best bets

Three of the seven runners in the 10-furlong handicap at Ripon on Thursday were winners last time out, and they are all running off either 6lb or 7lb higher marks today. Yet one – Tim Easterby’s Fishable – is nearly twice as likely to win as either Striding Edge or Fraternity (3.20) according to the betting, and the 9-2 about Richard Fahey’s filly looks very fair.

Like Fishable, Fraternity registered the first win of her career at today’s track last time out. Unlike Fishable, she did so over a mile rather than today’s mile-and-a-quarter, but her time was strong and she was not stopping at the line. That was a career-best and there is a real chance that she will improve further for the step up in trip, making her the obvious pick of the prices today.

Locket (2.20) also looks big at around 5-1 for the nursery earlier on the card. David O’Meara’s filly has attracted plenty of support for her last two outings but has yet to reward her backers, finishing only fifth of 10 last time. She must be showing something at home, though, and the cheekpieces are on today as she makes her handicap debut off 68, which is a workable mark on the basis of her debut form at Redcar in June.

Silver Cliffs (4.10) did not get much luck in running on his handicap debut at Sandown last month but still ran well to finish just over three lengths behind the winner and has been dropped 2lb as a result.

He should go well at around 9-2 on the card at Bath, where Show Me The Bubbly (3.40) also catches the eye in the five-furlong sprint at around 7-2. See The Sea (5.20) makes most appeal on the evening card at Stratford-on-Avon.