Al Zarooni handed eight-year ban by BHA, affected horses out for six months

Al Zarooni handed eight-year ban by BHA, affected horses

out for six months

Mahmood Al Zarooni was disqualified for eight

years by a disciplinary panel of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in London

on Thursday. As

a result of the Godolphin trainer's admission that he had used anabolic steroids

on some of the horses in his Moulton Paddocks stable, the 37-year-old was handed

the ban and also learned that the 15 horses in question would be unable to race

for six months.

Accompanied at the hearing by Godolphin's Racing Manager

Simon Crisford, Al Zarooni gave details of how he had administered the

prohibited substances Ethylestranol to seven horses and Stanozolol to four, with

a further four in his charge untested by the BHA also revealed to have been

given steroids. They include the unbeaten Group 1 Fillies' Mile heroine Certify, who, like the other

horses, will be unable to race until October 9.

After the three-person panel had outlined rule breaches

related to prohibited substances, the failure to keep proper medication records

and conduct prejudicial to horseracing, Al Zarooni was handed the significant

ban.

"We believe

that it is recognized by all who follow our sport that the circumstances in this

particular case are exceptional, not only on account of the profile of the owner

in question, but also the number and caliber of the horses involved," Paul Bittar, chief executive of the BHA,

said in a statement. "However, we

also believe the outcome is an endorsement for the effectiveness of British

Racing's dope testing program.

"On April 9, representatives of the BHA visited the yard of

Mahmood Al Zarooni and took samples from 45 horses as part of our testing in

training sampling program. As soon as the nature and number of positives

became apparent, we recognized that there were a number of challenges for the

sport and the BHA, initially in the very short term.

"The first and immediate

priority was to establish the facts as to how the prohibited substances came to

be present in the horses' samples. Secondly, in view of the potential

repercussions for the sport and the profile of the races for which some of the

horses held entries, it was in the public's interest, as well as that of BHA and

Godolphin, to progress the disciplinary procedures as quickly as possible.

"Both of these objectives have now been met and I would

like to publicly thank the staff at the BHA and the team at HFL Sport Science

who have worked around the clock on the case to achieve the outcome of today's

Disciplinary Panel hearing. This rapid resolution would also not have been

possible without the full cooperation of Godolphin and Sheikh Mohammed.

"The

relevant Rules in this case are explicit in that the use of anabolic steroids in

horses in the care of a licensed trainer is prohibited and that strict liability

for everything administered to horses while they are in training lies with the

trainer. The BHA's investigation has established that the substances in question

were administered on the instruction of Mahmood Al Zarooni. The full details of

this will be formally addressed in the Disciplinary Panel's findings, to be

published in due course and once they are available.

"We believe that the eight-year disqualification issued to

Mahmood Al Zarooni by the Disciplinary Panel, together with the six-month racing

restriction placed on the horses in question by the BHA, will serve to reassure

the public, and the sport's participants, that use of performance-enhancing

substances in British Racing will not be tolerated and that the sport has in

place a robust and effective anti-doping and medication control program.

"The next objective for BHA is to take the necessary steps

to ensure that overall confidence in the integrity of the sport is not at risk.

We welcome the proactive response of Godolphin and Sheikh Mohammed in announcing

their intention to review the procedures of this stable and the need to ensure

that all horses formerly trained by Mahmood Al Zarooni are tested and cleared

before they race again. The BHA will conduct the testing of the horses with the

analytical work being carried out by HFL Sport Science. Godolphin have stated

they will cooperate fully with this process.

"In addition, we will also provide

advice to Godolphin of necessary changes to its procedures and controls where

appropriate, and this will be supported by Godolphin's own review. Naturally,

the BHA will itself consider the wider issues raised by this matter and we will

seek to ascertain and collate all other relevant information including where

necessary interviewing other employees or contractors of Godolphin. As we do in

all cases, as part of an ongoing process we will identify further areas for

consideration which could be incorporated from this into our future sampling

strategy.

"Finally, this case has served to highlight something that

we were already aware of, in that there are inconsistencies across international

racing jurisdictions regarding what substances are permitted to be used in

training. While around the world, horseracing bodies quite rightly adopt a zero

tolerance policy to the presence of anabolic steroids when carrying out

post-race testing, the approach is not so consistent for horses in training. In

an age of increasing international travel and competition we will put the

subject on the agenda for discussion with our international colleagues."

Simon Crisford revealed that Al Zarooni administered the

banned substances with two foremen and a vet's assistant.

"The vet's assistant

had no idea what he was injecting," Crisford confirmed. "He had a direct order

from the trainer. Everybody knows that you can't use steroids in England."

He

then added on Al Zarooni's behalf, "I would like to apologize to Sheikh

Mohammed, all at Godolphin and fans of British racing."

In conclusion, the

racing manager said, "We hired Mahmood as there were too many horses for Saeed

bin Suroor. I recommended Mahmood and it's proved to be poor judgment."

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com