20 January 2015

ABC The Drum: Cobalt from the blue: time to register racing's vets

The horse racing industry is facing yet another doping scandal, so if the main players are serious about cleaning up this mess and their reputation then it's time to register the vets, writes Michael Hutak.

Like all organised sports, doping scandals are nothing new in racing. Go fasts, go slows, "elephant juice", EPO, steroids and now Cobalt - the headlines of the last week have been both breathless and curious. ...

This is the shadowy end of the racing game, where the perps dress in lab coats rather than silks. Returning home, he would administer the latest fad to his select group of clients - trainers who consistently showed remarkable talent for turning average types into winners. Horses that would return from a spell "jumping out of their skin". Horses said to have "grown a leg" after staging form reversals.

ABC The Drum: Cobalt from the blue, time to register racing's vets

The horse racing industry is facing yet another doping scandal, so if the main players are serious about cleaning up this mess and their reputation then it's time to register the vets, writes Michael Hutak.

Like all organised sports, doping scandals are nothing new in racing. Go fasts, go slows, "elephant juice", EPO, steroids and now Cobalt - the headlines of the last week have been both breathless and curious.

The stories around the abuse of cobalt chloride, first in harness racing and now in racing, both here and abroad, have been ongoing for more than two years. The difference this week is three of the country's highest profile trainers now have prima facie cases to answer.