The five individual trainers involved in the positive race-day swab saga late last year have all declared that they intend to plead not guilty to the doping charges laid against them.
The barrister representing the five trainers involved, confirmed that trainers Smiley Chan, Mark and Levi Kavanagh, Amy and Ash Yargi, Julius Sandhu and Symon Wilde will maintain contamination as the cause of the positive swabs, indicating formestane being present in their horses systems.
Formestane, an anabolic steroid, is a renowned drug used to treat breast cancer overseas, but is yet to be approved in Australia for both human and animal use. Given the drug’s aid in increasing the body’s production of testosterone, each of the five horses included in the saga has served a 12-month ban, imposed under the regulating body Racing Australia’s anti-doping rule (AR 248 (4)).
