Racing: Charged trio face financial ruin

Horse trainer Peter Moody. Photo / Getty Images

Three high-profile trainers face financial ruin if they are to be stood down before their cobalt charges are heard by the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary (RAD) Board.

Victorians Peter Moody, Danny O'Brien and Mark Kavanagh, along with the father-and-son training partnership of Lee and Shannon Hope, faced Racing Victoria stewards yesterday to show cause as to why their licences should not be suspended before their charges are heard.

All five trainers have had horses return readings to cobalt at a concentration level in excess of the 200 micrograms per litre urine threshold, introduced in April last year.

The hearings heard there was a possibility of the trainers continuing to train with a condition that they have their prizemoney percentages frozen, pending the hearing of their cases.

This was rejected by Moody, O'Brien and Kavanagh, while the Hopes were open to the suggestion.

Moody employs a staff of 70 people, 120 horses in training, a further 240 on his books and has a wage bill of $50,000 per week and if suspended would face $200,000 in redundancy payouts, while he would also have to move his horses, which would affect his 1100 owners.

The Caulfield-based trainer faces an administration and presentation charge after Lidari returned a level of 380 micrograms per litre of urine, in April last year, after running second in the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington last October.

Moody said after the hearing that he doesn't believe there is a fitting case to stand him down. "I have worked closely with RVL and the stewards' department to work this situation out and will continue to do so going forward.

"The submission put on the table for the training fees [percentages] to be withheld was over my head but I can assure you that every dollar that goes through my business is put back into my business to keep it going."

Legal counsel for Moody, Matthew Stirling, said they wouldn't accept for one minute that there is a strong case over the administration of cobalt and there was no evidence of Moody ever purchasing the substance.

Damien Sheales, representing O'Brien and Kavanagh, said that while the two trainers don't have the same numbers of employees as Moody, they still had considerable overheads and were subsidising their clients up to $15 a day under the recommended training fee.

Sheales said the case before the RAD Board involving his clients could take two or three weeks to run and that he would need two months to get all the expert evidence through.

"This case is more complex than others because of the number of issues," Sheales said. "This still has a long way to run and we're not talking weeks or months.

Stewards have put no timeframe on delivering their decision on the show cause notices.

- AAP