An Irish rider has been rapped over the knuckles by the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) following a positive dope test on the horse she rode into sixth place at the Blarney Castle international three-day event at the end of July.
Frances Younghusband will have to return £1,500 in prizemoney after being disqualified from her Blarney placing with the 10-year-old gelding Trotski. The rider has also been requested to pay 1,000 Swiss Francs (approximately £500, or €635) towards the FEI's legal costs.
Trotski tested positive to a prohibited substance, metabolite of pyrilamine, in a random dope test taken at the Co Cork fixture. It is thought that the prohibited substance came from an anti-irritant skin cream applied to the horse's tail by a Swiss groom working for Younghusband.
The FEI judicial committee found that there had been "no deliberate attempt to affect the performance of the horse", but criticised the Irish rider for "negligence" in not informing her groom about the importance of avoiding the use of prohibited substances.
The judicial committee held its hearing on November 7th, but the findings were not released until the expiry of the 30-day appeal period. Younghusband waived her right to appeal, but instead issued a warning to other riders to be "extremely vigilant" and to be wary of using, or allowing others to use "innocent-looking" treatments that could result in a positive dope test.
"She was undoubtedly acting in all innocence," Frances Younghusband said of the groom, who had applied a Swiss-made cream containing anti-histamine to the horse's tail, without reference to the rider.
"In a subsequent random dope test, this substance appeared in the horse's urine, having worked its way into the bloodstream," Younghusband said. "I will never make this mistake again. It was the groom's first-ever three-day event and, of course, I should have been much more vigilant."
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