A furious Cran Dalgety has slammed a process of what he says is horse trainers being treated like guinea pigs around murky cobalt laws.
The Canterbury harness racing trainer has been fined $32,000 after horses he trained returned five positive swabs for the prohibited substance.
But with legal fees and other associated costs, including paying back the horses winning stakes after they were disqualified, Dalgety said he was out of pocket more than $100,000 for something he is adamant is not his fault.
Dalgety labelled the fine "incredibly excessive" and he holds concerns that financial penalties of that magnitude could be crippling to trainers livelihoods when they have simply used a contaminated supplement through no fault of their own.
Dalgety, a third generation horse trainer, presented horses to race with cobalt levels above the allowed threshold on December 16, 29 and November 19 (three runners). He was first notified of a positive swab on January 10.
He admitted the charges but said he had no choice because under the rules of racing it is the trainer's obligation to present a horse free of prohibited substances.
Dalgety, a highly successful trainer best known for guiding the career of champion pacer Christen Me, is one of many trainers who feel that is too much power for officials to have when the source is not proven.
"There is no other industry in the world where you are found guilty until you can prove yourself innocent," he said.
In the Judicial Control Authority (JCA) decision, Dr Andrew Grierson, chief veterinarian for Harness Racing New Zealand (HRNZ), said analysis of samples taken from the feed supplement at Dalgety's stable were found to be extremely high in cobalt and he concluded it was the likely cause of the positive swabs.
Racing Integrity Unit (RIU) investigators agree but said Dalgety's culpability was his failure to obtain appropriate advice on the use of a product containing cobalt after HRNZ introduced a cobalt threshold 200 ug/L in May 2015.
The product Dalgety used was McGrouthers Equine Mineral Mix – a feed supplement he had used for more than 10 years without incident and that he believed to be perfectly legal.
He had previously purchased the product made by the late Dr Cliff McGrouther and it continued to be produced by McGrouther's daughter.
Dalgety, a former premiership-winning trainer, said the product was established by a veterinarian so he did not feel the need to seek further veterinary advice.
The product was labelled as "will not return a positive swab" and "Licensed under Animal Remedies Act 1967 No 3392".
However, despite what the label showed and unbeknown to Dalgety, the RIU said it had not been licensed since at least 1997.
The four Dalgety trained horses returned high readings that ranged between 226 ug/L to greater than 600 ug/L.
He stopped using the product the day he was notified of the first positive.
Raukapuka Ruler, Linton Shard, Benchmark and Fatima Siad (twice) were disqualified from the races in question.
Dalgety said the fact Raukapuka Ruler went on to win the Group I Northern Derby, with a cobalt level well under the threshold, was proof the elevated levels had not effected the horse's performance when it had tested positive in a much easier race back in December.
Dalgety said appealing the severity of the fine would be a case of Russian roulette.
"If I appeal I could get the fine reduced by $5000 but it might cost me $10,000 to appeal it.
"How far do you go? Where does it stop?"
Dalgety questioned why he was given such a hefty fine when Southland trainer Shane Walkinshaw had two charges dropped last year when a feed supplement was proven to be at fault for two of his horses returning high cobalt readings.
Other trainers have also had presenting charges dropped or received fines under $1000.
However, Dalgety is not the hardest hit. Last year thoroughbred trainers Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott were handed down a $50,000 fine and costs of $10,500 after cobalt was detected in three of their horses. The fine came after a nine-month investigation.
Dalgety has previously admitted two presentation charges.
In 2009 he was fined $3500 for a positive swab to caffeine and in 2012 he was fined $6000 for a bute positive but the JCA decision concluded the two previous breaches were not similar to the cobalt charge because one was from contaminated feed and the other was when the wrong horse was treated with bute.
Dalgety will also have to pay $2000 in costs to the JCA.
The RIU acknowledged Dalgety had been fully cooperative throughout their investigation.
WHAT IS COBALT?
Cobalt is an essential trace element that is naturally occurring in horses, dogs and other mammals but has been demonstrated to have an effect on the blood system by stimulating the production of red blood cells making for a similar effect to Erythropoietin (EPO) doping.
MAT KERMEEN