ALBURY trainer Andrew Dale will front a Racing NSW inquiry later this month after his stable star Lautaro returned a positive swab to a prohibited substance.
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A post-race urine sample taken from the five-year-old gelding has been found to contain altrenogest following one of his biggest race wins at Scone in May.
Altrenogest is not a prohibited substance for female horses and is administered to prevent them coming into season.
It is the first time Dale has had one of his horses test positive to a prohibited substance in his short training career.
He will front an inquiry in Sydney on July 21.
Dale declined to comment when contacted by The Border Mail on Wednesday.
The gelding saluted at big odds at Scone with the victory pocketing connections more than $50,000 in prizemoney.
Lautaro defeated odds-on favourite Interlocuter from the powerful Godolphin stable with horses prepared by Chris Waller, Peter and Paul Snowden and Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott also in the beaten brigade.
The win came after an unplaced run in the Wagga Gold Cup and the NSW Country Championships final at Randwick.
The sample taken from Lautaro at Scone was tested by the Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory and Racing Analytical Services Limited.
The most recent case of a gelding testing positive to altrenogest dealt with by Racing NSW concluded in May this year when another country trainer, Matthew Dunn, was fined by $5000.
Dunn presented Cascata Rossa to a Ballina maiden on March 10 and a routine post-race sample detected altrenogest in the gelding's system.
Dunn had a $7000 fine cut to $5000 by pleading guilty to the offence, had no prior conviction under prohibited substance rules and co-operated fully with stewards throughout the entire proceedings.
Cascata Rossa was also disqualified and race placings amended accordingly.
Dale was granted his trainer's licence in 2014 after being a successful owner with a string of horses.