THE SUNSHINE COAST NEWSPAPER COLUMN - AN UNCOMPLICATED RULE YET THE ARGUMENT GOES ON

By Graham Potter | Sunday, November 22, 2015

Graham Potter writes a weekly column for the Sunshine Coast daily. Due to demand from those having trouble accessing the paper these columns are now also published on HRO courtesy of the Sunshine Coast daily.

High profile cobalt cases will get plenty of coverage in the coming weeks.

Lee and Shannon Hope have learned their fate, disqualified for three and five years respectively after three horses in their care returned cobalt readings of 510 micrograms, 440 micrograms and 290 micrograms, all well in excess of the legal limit of 200 micrograms per litre of urine.

They are the first Victorian trainers to be banned under the cobalt rule.

They can seek a stay of proceedings and lodge an appeal with VCAT but, irrespective of that outcome, the penalty handed down by the RAD Board in respect of the Hope’s case states quite unequivocally that racing authorities have adopted a ‘no tolerance’ approach to the cobalt issue.

Even the fact that both the Hopes had unblemished records prior to their cobalt case held no sway. There was simply no ‘get out stakes’, no way to avoid at least the mandated minimum ban for such a breach once the guilty verdict had been handed down.

These penalties will bring little comfort to high profile trainers Mark Kavanagh, Danny O’Brien and Peter Moody, who are all sitting in the corridor waiting to be called in to face similar charges.

Many have tried to turn the events of the cobalt saga into a controversy and feelings have run very deep on the matter in certain quarters with the frequently asked question put in mitigation being, does cobalt actually have a performance enhancing ingredient?

When a definitive answer to that argument is found, perhaps racing authorities will amend the cobalt rule. Perhaps. But that would be a decision for the future.

Or the rule might stay in place, even if an excess amount of cobalt was found to be non-performance enhancing because the side-effects might be found to be detrimental to the horse’s health.

Another decision for another time.

The fact is trainers are duty charged as licensed professionals to work within the rules as they stand at any particular point in time.

Any claim to the contrary takes on less substance if a rule is challenged only when someone is caught breaking it, instead of the possible flaws being pointing out as soon as the rule is mooted or implemented.

It might seem like an over simplification to say that rules are rules ... break them and suffer the consequences ... but, in reality, that is life’s way and why some think it should be different in racing, always stretching and testing the limits, arguably shows how little regard they have for the industry that offers them a living.

The racing industry has been challenged on so many fronts with so many issues for so long.

It has needed to bite back and clearly it is doing just that with the cobalt issue.

Aggrieved parties will argue their case and they all deserve a fair hearing but, at the end of the day, the cobalt rule of a legal limit of 200 micrograms per litre, of urine, a non-discretionary rule, is as clear-cut as they come.

As such it carries a ‘trainer beware’ sign and the understanding that any proven transgression of the rule will have its consequences.

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