Do not expect any charges to be laid over the irregular blood bicarbonate reading returned by Yulestar before last Friday's $250,000 Auckland Trotting Cup.
Harness Racing New Zealand has opened an investigation into the result of the pre-race blood test, which indicated that the warm favourite had a higher bicarbonate level than his rivals.
Yulestar, trained at Hawera by Lorraine Nolan, started from a 15m handicap and finished third, later promoted to second, behind 107-1 winner Flight South.
The investigation is being conducted by racecourse inspector Rod Carmichael and is expected to completed next month.
While HRNZ officials must remain quiet about the investigation, there are several key factors which point to it finding no evidence of bicarbonate administration.
The most crucial is a battle Nolan has been having with Yulestar's blood levels.
The 6-year-old has been affected by a wildly varying white blood cell count since before his New Zealand Cup victory in November.
"His blood hasn't been right for some time and the vets have told us that can happen, especially to horses competing at this level," said Nolan.
"He was a little off-colour after returning home from Christchurch and we have had a lot of problems with his blood since."
The Herald understands while Yulestar's TCOinf2 levels were high last Friday his pH levels were low, a good indicator no bicarbonate had been administered to the pacer.
But there may be an even simpler than that indicator of Nolan's innocence. Yulestar's performance was quite simply not that of a horse racing with the assistance of bicarbonate administration.
In the New Zealand Cup on November 14 he came from a 10m handicap to bolt in, pacing a world record 3m 59.1s and could have gone a second faster.
In last Friday's cup he had an easier time in front, paced 3.5s slower and was run down by a class seven mare - hardly the performance of a milkshake horse.
No disrespect to Flight South, but at his best Yulestar would have won. Had he been racing with bicarbonate administration he would have won by a couple of bus-lengths.
But instead, he raced like a great horse a shade below his best because of a recurring blood complaint. The sort of complaint that can cause an irregular blood bicarbonate level.
HRNZ's investigation will prove that, no charges will be laid and Yulestar, who will hopefully soon bounce back to his best, will continue his season the untainted superstar of staying.
You can bet on it.
Racing: Yulestar will be cleared of test suspicion
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