Turf Club’s steroid inquiry clears listed trainers

The Turf Club has said it has conducted stable inspections on all trainers featuring in a mailing list supplied to Irish authorities by an Australian firm selling animal medicines online and no anabolic steroids have been found.

The list supplied by Ceva has been in the possession of racing's regulatory body and the Department of Agriculture for some time on the back of a seizure of the steroid Nitrotain, which had been posted to retired veterinary inspector John Hughes in 2012.

“On the back of this list we inspected the premises of trainers mentioned on this list and no anabolic steroids were found,” said Turf Club chief executive Denis Egan.

Although no steroids were found during those inspections, concerns about possible steroid abuse within racing were highlighted again last week when Co Carlow trainer Pat Hughes was convicted of possessing unauthorised animal medicines, including the steroid Stanozlol. He was fined €2,500 and ordered to pay €5,000 in legal costs.

Last year John Hughes pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing unlicensed animal products.