PREMIER Albury trainer Brett Cavanough has been fined $4000 by stewards following an inquiry into a positive swab.
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The leading Southern Districts Racing Association trainer pleaded guilty to administering the banned substance Tetramisole to Frog Hollow on the Thursday before the gelding won at Albury on October 27.
In assessing the penalty, stewards took into account that Tetramisole and Levamisole were only added to the list of prohibited substances on June 1 last year.
Cavanough yesterday said he accepted the stewards’ decision and ruled out appealing.
“You get your just desserts when you use a prohibited substance,” Cavanough said.
“At the end of the day it is a sheep drench that the stable has been using for 10 years.
“They banned it in June last year and there have been plenty of blokes using it and all of a sudden I got caught with it.
“It’s a harsh lesson.”
Cavanough said he was never in any danger of receiving a suspension.
“The stewards said I was only ever going to receive a fine because it’s not performing enhancing,” he said.
“It just has an active constituent that they barred because it has some sort of effect on horses and they decided to ban it.”
Evidence was taken from Cavanough while written evidence was tendered by the senior official veterinarian for Racing NSW, Dr Craig Suann and the general manager for the Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory, Mr John Keledjian.
Frog Hollow was disqualified with runner-up Russwillcrow declared the winner.
Cavanough was also fined an additional $200 for failing to record the administration of Levamisole Gold to Frog Hollow in his treatment records.