Cobalt - Tut tut tut

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Cobalt - Tut tut tut

Postby Booney » Fri Jan 22, 2016 9:33 am

Prominent Victorian horse trainers Mark Kavanagh and Danny O'Brien have won the right to keep competing for the foreseeable future, despite being slapped with multi-year bans over cobalt doping.

The Racing and Disciplinary (RAD) Board banned Kavanagh for three years and O'Brien for four years yesterday, after it found them guilty of using the substance for performance-enhancing purposes.

But the trainers then applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to review the case and temporarily suspend the bans.

At a hearing today, VCAT president Justice Greg Garde ordered the bans not be imposed until a new determination in the case is made by the tribunal.

A date for the re-hearing has not yet been set, but lawyers for Kavanagh and O'Brien were hopeful it could be as early as April.

"We are very keen to see this matter come as quickly as possible. We want to get on with it," the trainers' barrister Damian Sheales told the tribunal.

The trainers' legal team will be granted more powers at VCAT than they had at the RAD board, including the power to subpoena and cross-examine witnesses.

Mr Sheales told the tribunal he would request documents from laboratories in Hong Kong and Western Australia, as well as racing stewards, pertaining to what occurred when his client's horses were tested for cobalt.

He said the question of intent would form part of the case going forward.

Racing identities maintain innocence

O'Brien and Kavanagh — two of the biggest names in racing — have always maintained their innocence.

Both men have trained Cox Plate winners; Kavanagh with Maldivian in 2008 and O'Brien with Shamus Award in 2013.

Horse trainer Mark Kavanagh
PHOTO: Horse trainer Mark Kavanagh after his horse Shocking won the Melbourne Cup in 2009. (Mick Tsikas: Reuters)
O'Brien also won a Caulfield Cup in 2007 with Master O'Reilly.

The Kavanagh-trained Shocking won the 2009 Melbourne Cup.

One of Kavanagh's horses tested positive for excess cobalt in 2014, while four of O'Brien's horses were found to have exceeded allowable limits in the same year.

The pair have maintained they did not know a vitamin solution given to them by vet Dr Tom Brennan contained cobalt.

Dr Brennan pleaded guilty to the charges and yesterday was disqualified from racing for five years.

Cobalt has been likened to the performance-enhancing drug EPO because it can increase the number of red blood cells and improve a horse's endurance.

However, the pair's legal team has argued there is little scientific evidence to show cobalt has any performance-enhancing properties.

Lawyers for Racing Victoria and the trainers will next appear at VCAT on March 1.
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Re: Cobalt - Tut tut tut

Postby mighty_tiger_79 » Fri Jan 22, 2016 9:49 am

Heard an owner for O'Brien say that one of the horses that got done was for a win at Ballarat. The horse in question drifted in the market and there was no significant investments on the horse from the stable, apart from the owner who always bets on his horses.
The trainers % of prize money that day was under $1k.

The owner also suggested that the authorities knew about instances of cobalt but had failed to act on it initially.

Long long way to go with this story
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Re: Cobalt - Tut tut tut

Postby JK » Fri Jan 22, 2016 10:26 am

So they are allowed to give their horses Cobalt, just not too much of it?
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Re: Cobalt - Tut tut tut

Postby Booney » Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:25 am

JK wrote:So they are allowed to give their horses Cobalt, just not too much of it?


Cobalt is naturally occurring, it's a part of vitamin B12 and is important for blood cell formation so horses will always have some in their system. It's evident in horses that are not fed high nutrient food, such as race horses get fed.

What cobalt does is help the number of red blood cells and haemoglobin, helping the body build muscle and recover quicker as well as reducing fatigue. Humans used it until the 90's when EPO became "seen" as much safer. Cobalt "salt" tablets were prominent in athletics for years.

It does however create nasty side effect in people and horses when used in high doses, cardiovascular disease, heart disease etc.

It's not really proven to help horses, to make them faster or anything like that, so many people are wondering why these horses had such high doses in their systems.

Seems as though the vet in question was loading their feed with supplements, one of them high in cobalt and he's pretty much taken the blame. He realizes it was his job to know that the horses were getting.

So, while it's not proven to be of benefit, it's suspected to be and in high doses in dangerous.
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Re: Cobalt - Tut tut tut

Postby JK » Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:28 am

Danks for that mate
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Re: Cobalt - Tut tut tut

Postby Booney » Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:31 am

JK wrote:Danks for that mate


You Hird it here first.
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Re: Cobalt - Tut tut tut

Postby Mickyj » Fri Jan 22, 2016 3:14 pm

I dont wish to cause a fight here cobalt isnt great let me say that .
But doping in races be it horses or greyhounds in one form or another isnt new. I'm not saying its right but its been going for many decades.
I am 53 now grew up around greyhound tracks i used to read greyhound training books etc. I read a very old one i was a teenage boy in it was written in hand writing about track leg bandages you needed permission from vets etc to use one .
Once that was granted this not said you place a stinging nettle in this bandage . the dog couldnt run in that race .
Next race dog was run without a track bandage would win .
That was written in the 1950s
My point sport has been stuffed up for how many decades or centuries
its wrong they get suspended
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Re: Cobalt - Tut tut tut

Postby mighty_tiger_79 » Tue Jan 26, 2016 3:53 pm

Moody doesn't seem concerned with the charges as he spends up at the Kiwi sales
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