Pat Hughes found guilty of drug possession

Andalucia

From the racingpost:

Trainer Hughes found guilty of drug possession

BY CONOR KANE 5:28PM 2 OCT 2014

IRISH GRAND NATIONAL and Royal Ascot-winning trainer Pat Hughes has been fined €2,500 after being found guilty of possessing unauthorised animal remedies.

In what Judge Eamon O'Brien described as a "sad case", Hughes, of Fenniscourt Stud, Bagenalstown, County Carlow, pleaded not guilty on Thursday at Carlow district court to eight charges of possession of the unauthorised remedies, including one charge of possessing stanozolol, an anabolic steroid.

However, the 72-year-old was found guilty by Judge O'Brien and fined €2,500 as well as being told to pay €5,000 in legal costs and €600 in expenses.

Following the court hearing, a spokesman for the Turf Club said he had no comment to make, other than that the ruling and its ramifications will be "discussed" by the club's officials.

Stanozolol was described in court as being used for "building muscle mass" and was the product used by Ben Johnson before he was stripped of his Olympic 100m gold medal in 1988. There were three bottles found in a portable building on Hughes's property.

Other items found by three inspectors during their visit in 2012 were vetalglin, a painkiller; jurocyl, which is a low dose of arsenic and used as an appetite stimulant; diurex, which is a diuretic; aspegic powder, which is like aspirin; AMP 5, which is used to dilate the blood vessels and "enhance performance"; VAM, a vitamin and mineral booster; and L-Carnitine which is an amino acid supplement.

None of the products are authorised for use on animals in Ireland.

A Department of Agriculture vet from the special investigations unit, Louis Riordan, said that on February 1 2012, customs intercepted a package which was being imported into Ireland from Australia and contained a number of animal remedies. One of the names included on the invoice as a co-signee was Pat Hughes. A search warrant was then obtained from a judge in relation to Hughes's property.

He agreed under cross-examination that none of the products found on Hughes's premises exactly matched those found in the intercepted consignment, but said they were similar because they were "performance-enhancing".

Another department vet, John McConville, said he visited the training yard on February 2 2012 with two colleagues and while searching a portable building found all eight items.

He agreed with the defence that the items could have been found by anyone and were not hidden away. He also agreed that all of the products were past their expiry dates, the stanozolol having expired in February 2011.

In his evidence, Hughes said two of the products, vetalglin and aspegic powder, had been supplied by an Italian vet who used to treat his horses. He had never paid for them.

Four of the products were placed in his car after a race meeting in 2006 by a vet from the west of Ireland, since deceased, who had bought them from a man from Northern Ireland but had never come back to collect them. He didn't know how the stanozolol had come to be in the portable building and he had "never" administered stanozolol or any steroid to any of his horses.

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Wonder how the Turf Club will react

Harry Angstrom

They should withdraw his licence immediately. There should be a complete zero tolerance approach with these people.

Andalucia

His brother John Hughes,a former vet, pleaded guilty last year to possession of banned animal substances including anabolic steroids, he was found with enough to administer 1,500 doses.

What was curious about that incident was that no charges were brought against any trainers whom he supplied - the list of names was found together with documents showing it was not the first batch he imported.

Turf Club may be following the example set in the USA, where, Doug O'Neill, on his 19th drug violation gets a 10k fine and a 45 day holiday from training

At least in the UK they threw Al Zarooni and Butler under the bus

FIVE2_THREE

Andalucia wrote: »

His brother John Hughes,a former vet, pleaded guilty last year to possession of banned animal substances including anabolic steroids, he was found with enough to administer 1,500 doses.

What was curious about that incident was that no charges were brought against any trainers whom he supplied - the list of names was found together with documents showing it was not the first batch he imported.

Turf Club may be following the example set in the USA, where, Doug O'Neill, on his 19th drug violation gets a 10k fine and a 45 day holiday from training

At least in the UK they threw Al Zarooni and Butler under the bus

Let's be fair. Caught in possession is not the same as a horse testing positive for said drug. this is not an Al Zarooni situation where horses were proved to have a drug in their system. As for O'Neil. well, what else is there to be said ? 19th Drug violation there is a reason why they call him DRUG O'NEILL

Harry Angstrom

FIVE2_THREE wrote: »

Let's be fair. Caught in possession is not the same as a horse testing positive for said drug. this is not an Al Zarooni situation where horses were proved to have a drug in their system. As for O'Neil. well, what else is there to be said ? 19th Drug violation there is a reason why they call him DRUG O'NEILL

If a person is caught in possession of drugs, a defence of "Well I didn't take them" wouldn't cut much ice.

FIVE2_THREE

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

If a person is caught in possession of drugs, a defence of "Well I didn't take them" wouldn't cut much ice.

All of the drugs listed in his possession are easily detected by the labs used in the UK and Ireland. had he used them He would have been found out. and by the way the drugs were found EXPIRED.

chinguetti

The Al Zarooni story was wrapped up so quickly with such undue haste that it beggars belief so the UK authorities aren't really a shining light on this front.

As for the case above, will anything be done here - probably not and the authorities will hope its forgotten by the weekend.

FIVE2_THREE

chinguetti wrote: »

The Al Zarooni story was wrapped up so quickly with such undue haste that it beggars belief so the UK authorities aren't really a shining light on this front.

As for the case above, will anything be done here - probably not and the authorities will hope its forgotten by the weekend.

If one were to cheat specifically in England or Ireland using drugs is not the way to do because the testing is so stringent. if one were to cheat the betting system is prime for the picking and opportunity.

FIVE2_THREE

The other day I said that racing in America is not about having the right horse its about having the right DRUGS. so as the O'Neil suspension has come out here are two more trainers discovered to be cheating. three in one day.




ELMONT, N.Y. - Two New York-based trainers face suspensions after substances banned for use on race day were found in post race samples of their horses.

Bruce Levine will serve a 21-day suspension beginning Oct. 19 for the finding of the drug Vardenafil, also known as Levitra, in the post-race sample of Santa Elf, who finished second in the ninth race at Belmont Park on May 2. Levine was originally suspended 30 days but had nine days stayed pending no further violation of New York State Gaming Commission rules for 180 days, beginning Nov. 9. Levine was also fined $5,000.

Levine had a second horse - Zippity Goomba- test positive for the same drug after winning a race at Parx on March 16. The penalty from the Parx violation runs concurrent with the one issued by New York. Levine was fined $3,000 by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission.

Levine said the drug was contained in a paste he purchased over the counter that he used on horses in their training. He believes the medication stayed in the system of those two horses longer than others, for some reason.

The connections of both Santa Elf and Zippity Goomba had to forfeit money earned by those horses in their respective races.

Brad Cox is serving a seven-day suspension for the finding of the drug Flunixin, also known as Banamine, in the post-race sample of Who’s Mary’s Daddy, who was eased in the fifth race at Saratoga on July 27. Cox was initially suspended 15 days but had eight of those days stayed for waiving his right of appeal. His suspension began Monday and runs through Sunday. He was also fined $1,000.

Who’s Mary’s Daddy did not earn any purse money because she failed to finish the race.

http://www.drf.com/news/levine-suspended-21-days-second-positive-drug-test

Huntley

Andalucia wrote: »

What was curious about that incident was that no charges were brought against any trainers whom he supplied - the list of names was found together with documents showing it was not the first batch he imported.

I was waiting with bated breath for that list myself. Nobody really cares about a semi retired trainer with ten horses. There are bigger names on that list for certain but unsurprisingly it's a fingers in their ears job from the turf club brigade.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=89094669

Harry Angstrom

FIVE2_THREE wrote: »

All of the drugs listed in his possession are easily detected by the labs used in the UK and Ireland. had he used them He would have been found out. and by the way the drugs were found EXPIRED.

What were they doing on his premises in the first place? The whole thing is a joke. The Turf Club need to start clamping down on doping but the problem with Irish racing is that it's too incestuous and there's too many cliques. You'd want to be a lunatic to bet on handicaps or maidens in this country.

BumperD

This is not sad, Judge. This is FANTASTIC news.

"Four of the products were placed in his car after a race meeting in 2006 by a vet from the west of Ireland, since deceased, "

The regularity in which dead people are blamed in irish court cases for alleged wrongdoing never ceases to amaze me.

Good riddence.

BumperD

Spot on Huntley.

FIVE2_THREE

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

What were they doing on his premises in the first place? The whole thing is a joke. The Turf Club need to start clamping down on doping but the problem with Irish racing is that it's too incestuous and there's too many cliques. You'd want to be a lunatic to bet on handicaps or maidens in this country.

I can't speak for him. I'm just applying common sense. but no trainer would pay all that money for drugs just to allow them to expire. maybe he was going to use them but had a change of mind ? who knows. but people shouldn't let their emotions go crazy. he had the chance to use them and he didnt.

Huntthe

I often marvel at the regularity with which a certain very prominent trainer is able to get his charges to the race course and run their hearts out. Let's not pretend the conviction of a careless semi retired trainer is the problem solved.

diomed

Or you could buy them cheaper when they are date-expired? They probably should have been destroyed but were sold instead at very low prices. Who knows?