Stewards wrap: five trainers in trouble for positive swabs
SA trainer Steve Hoffman recently faced a Greyhound Racing SA stewards' inquiry charged with a breach of the prohibited substance rule.
The charge was laid after Hoffman's greyhound Like A Tornado returned a positive urine sample to cobalt above the allowed threshold when it competed at Gawler on February 12, 2017.
Hoffman pleaded guilty to the charge and was slapped with a five-month disqualification, to commence at midnight on June 15, 2017.
Hoffman was also charged with a breach of GAR 84A(1) for failing to keep treatment records, for which he was fined $150.
Chegia suspended
OSWALD Chegia has been suspended by GRSA stewards after pleading guilty to a breach of the prohibited substance rule.
The charge related to the greyhound Shez Rocking which returned a positive urine sample to arsenic when competing at Angle Park on January 11, 2017.
Chegia was suspended for six months, with three months suspended for 24 months providing he does not re-offend under the same rule. He was also fined $4000.
Kelly penalty varied on appeal
PROMINENT SA trainer Todd Kelly has had his disqualification reduced on appeal by the SA Racing Appeals Tribunal.
Kelly had been banned for 15 months and fined $5000 after his greyhound It's No Myth returned a positive urine sample to amphetamine when racing at Gawler on October 6, 2016.
The tribunal upheld the monetary fine and substituted a disqualification period of 10 months.
However, the tribunal also imposed another three-month ban for Kelly's conduct after the positive was recorded which the tribunal felt was detrimental to greyhound racing. This disqualification is to be served concurrently with the 10 months.
Woods fined
THE Queensland Racing Integrity Commission recently finalised an inquiry into the findings of salbutamol in a urine sample taken from the greyhound Her's Not His when it competed at Ipswich on November 25, 2016.
The dog's trainer, Stephen Woods, was charged with a breach of the prohibited substances rule, GAR 83(2)(a), to which he entered a plea of not guilty.
QRIC Stewards found Woods guilty as charged and fined him $1,500, whilst the greyhound was also disqualified from the event in question.
Howson disqualified
JOHN Howson has been banned for 20 months after being found guilty of presenting his greyhound Lover's Loch to race when not free of a prohibited substance.
A urine sample taken from the greyhound at Gosford on December 27, 2016, showed the presence of amphetamine.
Despite Howson pleading not guilty, stewards found him guilty as charged and imposed the lengthy disqualification.