Western Australian trainer fined for arsenic positive swab
Racing WA stewards have fined trainer Brock Lewthwaite $6000 after he pleaded guilty to a breach of AR 240(2) following arsenic being detected in a post-race urine sample from Age Of Grace at Kalgoorlie on July 5 this year.
Age Of Grace returned the positive sample after winning at the Goldfields track, with the testing detecting the Prohibited B List substance arsenic at a concentration exceeding 0.30 milligrams per litre.
The horse was disqualified from the race under AR 240(1), with placings amended and prizemoney to be returned and redistributed.
In determining the penalty, stewards took into account Lewthwaite’s recent guilty plea to a separate breach of AR 240(2) involving Marines Cry, which also returned a positive arsenic sample after racing at York on June 8, and his failure to take sufficient precautions to prevent a further presentation involving the substance.
Stewards were satisfied the arsenic detected in Age Of Grace was likely to have resulted from the horse ingesting copper chrome arsenate (CCA)-treated timber from pine posts, noting no products containing arsenic were found at Lewthwaite’s training establishment and that he would no longer train horses at premises containing the treated timber.
Racing WA has reminded trainers to eliminate horses’ access to CCA-treated timber and to inspect fencing when presenting horses from properties where it is present, withdrawing any horse showing evidence of fresh or continued chewing.
