The Formestane case resumed with a plea hearing at the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Wednesday, with both parties making submissions to the VRT about appropriate penalties for the charges.
RV’s legal counsel Adrian Anderson called on the VRT to “to send an appropriate message” to the industry with any penalty imposed on the trainers for presenting horses to race with banned substances Formestane and its metabolite 4-hydroxysterstonerone in post-race urine samples.
He said Smiley Chan, Julius Sandhu and Amy and Ash Yargi should each receive a $10,000 fine for the breach of the rules, while Symon Wilde and Mark and Levi Kavanagh should receive a $15,000 fine, given their prior offences.
But Sheales said this case differs from almost every other case involving a ‘presentation’ charge that he has been involved in and it should be treated accordingly by the VRT.
He asked the Tribunal to use their discretion by not imposing a penalty on the trainers, other than their horses being disqualified from the races in which they returned the positive.
He pointed to the mysterious nature of the cases, including that neither the trainers nor RV’s vets and stewards, have been able to determine the source or cause of the substances being detected in post-race urine samples.
He said it cannot be definitively ruled out that the substances aren’t endogenous – essentially naturally occurring – in nature in horses.
“In most cases, these are ordinarily used substances, they’re ordinarily in stables and that’s what 95% of these cases (presentation charges) are,” Sheales said.
“If you get a positive with them, it shouldn’t happen and you are at fault, even if you establish it was a staff member, stable error or an honest mistake.”
“But the whole idea of general and specific deterrence in the context of these cases is nonsense (and) it can have no application.”
“What message are you (VRT) meant to send to the racing industry by way of imposing of penalty?”
“I’m not trying to be smart, and I know I can be, but I’ve got no idea.”
“They (RV) can’t tell you because if they could, they would’ve put out advice to trainers (about Formestane), which they so love doing.”
“Where is the RVL advice to industry and to other trainers (about Formestane) because we know it’s an issue numerically (with other cases)”
“They’ve been investigating this with their scientists for two years and they still haven’t put out one piece of advice to trainers.”
“What message are you meant to send to other trainers to reduce the likelihood of them returning a positive to these substances?”
The five stables all pleaded guilty to one charge of presenting a horse to race with Formestane and its metabolite 4-hydroxysterstonerone in post-race urine samples taken during a seven-week period in early 2023.
The trainers, who were all present at Wednesday’s hearing, have maintained their innocence and initially fought the charges but later changed their plea to guilty after reaching an agreement with RV in December.
The agreement saw RV withdraw evidence from its own regulatory vet which suggested that administration was the most likely cause of the positives.
The trainers withdrew evidence and expert testimony that the presence of the substances could’ve been endogenous, while RV conceded that it would not seek to establish that the substances were from exogenous origins.
After both Sheales and Anderson made their final arguments and presentations on Wednesday, the Tribunal adjourned the case while it considers a potential penalty.
