Queensland harness racing has been rocked with the news that Australia’s leading trainer Grant Dixon is facing two positive swabs charges for arsenic.
Dixon withdrew his horses from the nominations for Tuesday’s Albion Park and Wednesday’s Redcliffe meeting as he conducts a forensic search of his stable to try and find evidence for his defence.
He refused to comment on the swabs when contacted by The Courier-Mail.
Arsenic is famously remembered for being the drug suspected to have caused the death of Australia’s greatest racehorse, Phar Lap, in the United States.
It is an old fashioned drug which was used by old time trainers as an appetite stimulant for their horses.
But giving it to a horse is laced with risk because an overdose can be lethal. A small dose would often make a horse’s coat bloom but an overdose would make its hair fall out.
Grant Dixon was Australia’s leading trainer last year and leads the field again this season with 105 winners from 786 starters this season.
To read the full article written by Robert Craddock of The Courier Mail click here