Smith handed 15-year ban for cobalt

Darren Smith became the first Australian trainer to be sentenced for cobalt use after Racing New South Wales stewards pronounced a total ban of 15 years on account of 42 charges related to cobalt administration. Between February and May last year, 17 horses from Smith’s Newcastle stable, involved in 20 races, returned elevated levels of cobalt when tested post-race, while another positive swab resulted from an out-of-competition test. Twelve of the samples were found to carry in excess of 1000 micrograms of cobalt per liter of urine. 

Smith initially denied administering cobalt, yet he admitted buying an unmarked bottle, which he said he understood as containing a blood-booster, from banned harness racing trainer Shannon Wonson, and injecting several of his horses with the substance. His legal counsel Paul O’Sullivan argued before the stewards that Smith could not have known cobalt was a prohibited substance. “At the relevant time the word cobalt did not appear in the rules,” O’Sullivan said. “The facts are not in dispute that Mr. Smith injected the horses with a substance. If he had been given a bottle labeled cobalt would he have known it was prohibited? The answer is no.” 

Indeed, no threshold for the mineral existed in New South Wales at the time of the offences–the 200 mcg/l threshold was introduced in Victoria in April 2014 before gaining national status from Jan. 1, 2015–yet stewards judged that the conditioner had been in breach of the rule banning substances which alter horses’ blood pattern and stimulate the production of EPO. They also took into account Smith’s stained drug record, as this is the 10th drug-related offense he is found guilty of. “There is not a record in New South Wales like that,” Chief Steward Ray Murrihy commented. Smith’s ban was backdated to May 30, 2014, the date when Racing New South Wales started refusing entries from his stable. The trainer has lodged an appeal against the decision. 

In Victoria, trainers Peter Moody, Mark Kavanagh, Danny O’Brien and the partnership of Lee and Shannon Hope remain under investigation for breaches of the 200 mcg/l cobalt threshold introduced last Spring.