CHAMPION trainer Peter Moody has been charged by Racing Victoria stewards over Lidari's cobalt positive last Spring.
RACING.COM reports that Moody met RV stewards on Friday morning and he was issued three alternative charges after Lidari returned a swab above the legal cobalt threshold of 200 micrograms per litre of urine following his second placing in the Turnbull Stakes on October 4.
The concentration of cobalt detected was determined by ChemCentre to be 380 micrograms per litre (with a 38 microgram per litre measurement of uncertainty) and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Racing Laboratory to be 410 micrograms per litre.
Under the Australian Rules of Racing, these are the charges he faces:
1. AR 175(h)(i) - that Mr Moody administered, or caused to be administered, the prohibited substance cobalt for the purpose of affecting the performance of Lidari in the race;
2. AR 175(h)(ii) - that Mr Moody administered, or caused to be administered, the prohibited substance cobalt which was detected in a sample taken from Lidari prior to or following its race;
3. AR 178 - that Mr Moody brought Lidari to race with the prohibited substance cobalt in its system.
“This has been an exhaustive and complex investigation by Racing Victoria’s integrity services team into the sample returned by the Mr Moody-trained Lidari,” said RV Executive General Manager - Integrity Services Dayle Brown.
“The issuing of these charges against Mr Moody means that we have now completed the investigative phase into the elevated cobalt samples returned by horses from four Victorian stables.
“Mr Moody, like the trainers from the other three stables, will have the opportunity to defend the charges brought against him before the independent RAD Board and we hope that this can occur at the earliest possible opportunity.”
Last month, RV stewards issued a total of 49 cobalt-related charges against trainers Danny O’Brien, Mark Kavanagh and father-son team Lee and Shannon Hope, as well as vet Tom Brennan.
No date has been set for any of those hearings yet.