'A little puzzle' as John Gosden fined £3,000 over anti-inflammatory positives

John Gosden has been fined a total of £3,000 by a disciplinary panel over two fillies he ran at the end of 2020 who were both found to have the same therapeutic drug still in their systems, more than a fortnight after it was given. In one case, the positive test was taken 26 days after administration, which the trainer said left "a little puzzle" but he added that he was pleased the BHA had finally brought the matter to a conclusion.

Majestic Noor is the better known of the two horses involved. She returned a positive test for Triamcinolone Acetonide (TCA) after winning a Listed race at Yarmouth on September 16, 2020. Records at the Gosden yard and at the Newmarket Equine Hospital showed she had been injected on September 1 with Adcortyl, an anti-inflammatory that contains TCA and comes with what was described by Charlotte Davison for the BHA as a "14-day mandatory stand-down period".

Davison said Majestic Noor's hind fetlocks had been injected with a total of 15 milligrams of Adcortyl by the vet Benoit Herinckx. A subsequent injury may have caused the substance to remain in her system for longer than expected.

Majestic Noor (right): returned a positive test for Triamcinolone Acetonide (TCA) after winning a Listed race at Yarmouth on September 16, 2020Credit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

"There had been damage to the joint capsule of Majestic Noor five days following the medication," Davison said. "The vet was asked to examine her with regard to swelling, remote to the site of injection, which had not been present when checked the previous evening.

"Dr Herinckx explained that, with the benefit of hindsight, it was possible that damage to the joint capsule may have resulted in leakage of synovial fluid, which resulted in delayed elimination of the drug, which may explain the adverse analytical finding."

The other positive was returned by Peronista, who finished unplaced on her two career starts. "We had trouble trying to get her moving well and it took us until the end of her three-year-old season before we got her on the racetrack," the trainer told the panel.

"We tried to give her some help with this, which is very therapeutic to a horse. We are very careful how we use it."

Peronista was injected on September 11, 2020 and the positive test was taken at Kempton on October 7, almost a month later. Addressing the question of why the drug should still be present after so long, Davison said the BHA believed it could sometimes behave "erratically" when injected into a joint and added that trainers had been told to be cautious in using it, while acknowledging that it is "frequently and legitimately prescribed and administered to horses by vets".

"The BHA makes it clear that there is no suggestion that Mr Gosden intended to breach the rule," Davison added. A plea agreement was reached between the parties and accepted by the panel under which fines of £1,500 are to be paid in each case. Davison accepted three mitigating factors: that Gosden had followed the guidance of his vet, that the substance is likely to have behaved unpredictably and that there had been delay by the BHA in bringing the case.

'We use it very sparingly'

Gosden told the panel: "It is pretty strange, the 26 days, it leaves just a little puzzle but at least we clearly know the source of the medication, which is commonly used, including in eventing and showjumping.

"We are very conservative with our use of it and use it very sparingly. In the case of Majestic Noor, it was the first time in her life that it had ever been used, so it's not something I use without thinking carefully. In fact, Stradivarius just retired to stud having never had an injection of anything like that in seven seasons of racing.

"I don't know what tiny picograms it [the amount found by the test] was but obviously it wasn't very much. But these are positives and we have to face the fact.

"Our vet is as surprised as anyone. He's a man of enormous experience, he's been with me for 30-something years and the horse comes first with him."

Speaking to the Racing Post, Gosden said he was puzzled by the two cases happening so close together. He added that in the subsequent two years, he has not been notified of any other failed tests.

The trainer had one previous case involving TCA, when Royal Line was disqualified from third place in the Long Distance Cup of 2019. On that occasion, he complained that the BHA "abdicates almost all responsibility" for withdrawal times, "leaving vets at the coalface with the lingering feeling that they are running trials for the regulator and suffering the consequences, along with their clients, of any adverse finding".

Read this next:

Champion apprentice Marco Ghiani banned for six months after cocaine positive

The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday. Not a Members' Club Ultimate subscriber? Click here to join today and also receive our Ultimate Daily emails plus our full range of fantastic website and newspaper content