Riley facing suspension

Australia’s Racing Appeals and Disciplinary (RAD) Board have confirmed the charges against Victorian Group 1-winning trainer Mark Riley, who now faces a three-year suspension. The RAD’s investigation into the case of Gold For Kev (Aus), who returned elevated levels of TC02 (bicarb) following a pre-race test in July last year, came to a conclusion on Thursday, with the Board holding Riley guilty of administering a prohibited substance.
   Riley had denied administering alkalinizing agents to the horse (a practice commonly known as “milk-shaking”), yet the Board was not impressed by the trainer’s evidence. “Many of Mark Riley’s responses to questioning by stewards and cross examination in the hearing before the Board were characterised by ambivalence, equivocation, obfuscation and prevarication,” the finding read. “Riley’s evidence that he would not have had the time to stomach tube the horse was contradictory and unpersuasive. Similarly, his evidence that horses in his stable were not stomach tubed between 2 June and 15 July 2014 did not survive cross examination intact.”
   According to the rules of Australian racing, Riley faces a three-year ban, unless he can produce evidence of mitigating circumstances.