Every major racing jurisdiction interprets and implements the strict liability rule on the basis that if the trainer can prove that he did not administer, or cause to be administered, a prohibited substance detected, and had taken all reasonable precautions to prevent the administration of such prohibited substance, that no action or finding will be made against the trainer in their personal capacity, reports the SPORTING POST.
In a press release published on Sunday 25 July 2021, the South African National Trainers Association says that in South Africa (SA), a third world country and by association racing jurisdiction, which is difficult to argue against what with our economic junk status, the National Horseracing Authority (NHA) continue to persecute, prosecute, and convict innocent trainers on the basis of an archaic, and believed unconstitutional and unlawful rule based on automatic guilt.
A further perfect example of the vindictive nature of the NHA and its Racing Control Executive (RCE), Arnold Hyde, has once again surfaced following a number of Zilpaterol “positives” involving 8 KwaZulu-Natal trainers with collectively 10 “positives.”
Zilpaterol is a beta-2 adrenergic agonist which is approved in certain countries as a cattle feed additive to increase size.
It is particularly prevalent in SA and as such can easily be inadvertently transferred in microgram amounts from livestock industry sources to horse feed.
Zilpaterol is usually found in molasses which feed companies use as a binding agent and to make feed more palatable.
Whilst 7 of the 8 trainers have legal representation, the unrepresented trainer, Gavin Van Zyl, decided to proceed with his Inquiry ahead of all.
Despite the fact that the NHA is well aware that this is feed contamination emanating from the same feed company – our independent tests of sample feed conducted at FDA laboratories has confirmed this – and whilst Van Zyl understandably pleaded “not guilty”, the NHA constituted Inquiry Board found him “guilty” of being the trainer responsible for 2 “positives” of Zilpaterol detected in 2 different horses.
