Mahmood Al Zarooni to return to training following eight-year ban

Mahmood Al Zarooni, the former Godolphin trainer banned for eight years for a doping scandal that stunned racing, is set to make a comeback.

Al Zarooni expects to start training again in the UAE in the coming weeks with new owners and 20 horses from a base at the Sharjah Equestrian and Racing Club.

The news will bring back memories of the notorious doping case, for which Al Zarooni was found guilty by a BHA disciplinary panel in April 2013. The panel found he had doped 15 horses in his care with banned anabolic steroids at a time when his reputation had been significantly bolstered by Encke's St Leger victory the previous season.

Al Zarooni, who won 12 Group 1s in less than four years when based in Newmarket, admitted being in breach of the rules of racing after 11 horses at Godolphin's Moulton Paddocks Stables tested positive.

All 11 were banned from racing and Al Zarooni revealed to the BHA four more had also been administered with one of two banned anabolic steroids. His actions were deemed by the panel as "a very serious departure from the proper governance standards expected in horseracing", and to "have damaged the reputation of British racing".

In a statement, Godolphin's then racing manager Simon Crisford spoke of the operation being "shocked and completely outraged" at Al Zarooni's actions.

His suspension, one of the most severe handed out by the BHA, expired in April and Al Zarooni has reached the final stages of the process to return to training.

"I have to rebuild my reputation," he said. "What I did was a big mistake, I learned a lot of lessons and now I have to prove myself again and show this mistake will not happen again."

'I want to prove I was not a cheater'

Prior to his appointment in 2010 by Sheikh Mohammed, Al Zarooni, 45, had come up through the ranks in his native Dubai, where he worked as an assistant to Ali Al Rayhi for ten years.

He has applied for his licence with the Emirates Racing Authority, passed his interview and secured a barn. With Marwan Abdul Rahman as his assistant and staff and owners enlisted, Al Zarooni is awaiting final paperwork in time for the new season which starts on October 29 at Jebel Ali. The ERA has confirmed the details of Al Zarooni's application to the Racing Post.

It is a significant change of scenery from his last base at Moulton Paddocks, which is now overseen by his former assistant Charlie Appleby and has a capacity for 190 horses, but the dual British Classic-winning trainer does not dispute that he fully deserved to be punished.

"I should have been banned, for the mistake I made I deserved a ban, 100 per cent. I don't disagree. I should have been punished, but I disagreed with the length. I thought they would ban me for two or three years, maximum four. When they said eight, I felt it was very harsh."

Reaction to the 2013 scandal was one of widespread disbelief. A damning report issued by the BHA's panel ran to 2,500 words. It recorded Al Zarooni's admission that he thought anabolic steroids could be used if a horse was not in racing, and that he could offer no explanation for the absence in the stable's medication books of any record of anabolic steroids having been administered. He told the panel he had personally brought the banned drugs into the UK in his luggage when returning from Dubai. In its report the panel felt Al Zarooni's assertion at a hearing that he did not know anabolic steroid use was not permitted in the UK was "simply not truthful".

Al Zarooni has maintained his motive was not to enhance performance. "I want to make my file white," he said. "Many people when they hear the name Al Zarooni will think of the black mark [next to his name] because of doping horses and say, 'He's a cheater'. I want to prove I was not a cheater, I never even thought about that.

"I wasn't cheating. It was a mistake, but my horses weren't doped for racing, it was to help them heal. Most of these horses have been through hard work and they have small problems. Some have suspensory or tendon problems and it helps them heal. That was the idea. My horses were never caught in any race because it was never anything I did when they were racing."

Encke wins the 2012 St Leger for Mahmood Al Zarooni and GodolphinCredit: Edward Whitaker

Al Zarooni claimed it had been a struggle in the intervening eight years since a series of events he described at the time as a "catastrophic error".

"I went through a very difficult time, I had no income and I have a family and children," he added. "They want to live, to eat, to go to school, to do many things. I had to manage and control things as much as I could to carry on. I want everyone to learn from my mistake because it's very difficult when you have no income.

"I have been doing nothing. I was watching racing and reading news about horses. For me, horses are like a drug, if you are away from them all you want is to be with them. Hearing them this morning, watching them work, it's special. I'm very happy I'm back doing what I like and I'll give it everything."

Al Zarooni has won some of the biggest prizes in racing, with the 1,000 Guineas, Prince of Wales's Stakes, Irish Oaks and Dubai World Cup on his CV in addition to the Leger.

"I'm hoping to repeat my success and win as much as we can," he said. "Having been out of the sport I love for so long there's no such thing as a big race or a small race, they are all the Derby. Any race I win will be a big thing. I will try my best and there's no chance this mistake will happen again because I don't want to go through what I have been through again.

"I'm very excited and very happy that I will come back to my passion, this is the only thing that I know. I will try my best to work hard with my new team and partnership. I'm starting off again from zero, but we have a good team and we will do our best for our owners. I want to thank everyone here for their support."

Asked whether he plans to return to Britain, Al Zarooni said: "Many people have contacted me from the UK asking me to work there, and I love Newmarket, but I can't do it now.

"You have to have a good yard and team to work there, maybe it can be a future plan. Or maybe we can work with English trainers if they send horses over for the Dubai Carnival. I would like to work with international horses again."

The BHA was contacted for a response to the news but declined to comment.

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