Steroid Discovery

Overthelast

Article on this in the Sunday Times yesterday. The indo also picked up on it today - good piece in the comment section.


Richard Forristal – 07 October 2013
AT Carlow District Court last Thursday, John Hughes, a retired Department of Agriculture veterinary inspector, pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing banned animal substances, including the anabolic steroid Nitrotain.
The case has been put back until December 5 after the Leighlinbridge man offered to pay €10,000 to the Kilkenny Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals plus €3,000 in costs.
A Department of Agriculture official described the find as "sinister", and this is certainly a can of worms that has the potential to do real harm to Irish racing's squeaky-clean image in terms of policing prohibitive substances – a subject which was thrust into the sport's headlines earlier this year.
Illicit steroid use has become a consistent thorn in the side of British racing's regulators, with the Mahmood Al Zarooni scandal spearheading a raft of doping-related issues that hang over Sheikh Mohammed's thoroughbred empire.
At Dublin airport back in February 2012, Customs' officials intercepted two parcels bound for John Hughes from Australia.
After identifying an assortment of illegal animal drugs, the delivery then went ahead under surveillance, and Hughes' home was raided a few hours later by the Department's special investigations unit, Customs and Gardai.
He attempted to hide documents that showed the shipment was one of many, and refused to name those he supplied with the substances.
It was also reported that documents were seized during the search that listed the names and contact details of horse trainers in the midlands.
Nitrotain, which is designed to improve horses' muscle mass, strength and stamina, was one of the substances at the centre of the Al Zarooni find. Hughes' haul consisted of a quantity sufficient to administer up to 1,500 doses.
The response to the discovery by the Turf Club's chief executive Denis Egan was curious.
"There is no evidence whatsoever that anabolic steroids are in use in Irish racing," Egan is reported to have said, adding that the regulator "found nothing" in over 3,000 tests last year.
Yet, in the wake of the much-publicised Al Zarooni controversy six months ago, Egan had conceded that a 23pc cut in the Turf Club's integrity budget to €5.9m since 2008 – despite a 2pc increase in fixtures – left him "worried" about their ability to keep pace with illicit doping practices

http://www.independent.ie/sport/horse-racing/richard-forristal-steroid-find-could-have-disastrous-impact-on-irish-racings-reputation-29639428.html

Edit - Times piece stated the steroids leave no trace after 48 hours.......makes detecting these rather difficult

paddy no 11

That list would make for interesting reading eh.