Racing Victoria apology

Racing Victoria is concerned that the circumstances surrounding the recent testing of Danny O’Brien’s horses The New Boy and Kutchinsky have caused distress to Mr O’Brien and the connections of the two horses.

Last Saturday, the Stewards decided to take additional blood samples from these horses at the end of race day in order to provide a greater profile of whatever Total Carbon Dioxide (TCO2) fluctuations may have occurred on the day and to assist in the interpretation of those fluctuations. The need to detain horses on-course is to prevent the possibility of any post-race alkalinizing administrations interfering with readings and the natural TCO2 patterns. This strategy has been employed in the past by Racing Victoria and is an effective measure.

The laboratory results received on Monday all produced readings that were significantly below the maximum TCO2 limit which led the Stewards to a conclusive view that there was no evidence of any breaches of the Rules of Racing.

Unfortunately, it is apparent that there were discrepancies between the pre-race screen readings and the laboratory results and this has prompted the Stewards to seek further advice from Racing Analytical Services Limited (which conducts the analysis) and to review whether there are any aspects of the race-day TCO2 sampling and screening procedures that warrant attention. That review is still in progress.

The detaining of the horses at the track and subsequent sampling of the horses at Mr O’Brien’s stables attracted significant media attention and we apologise if the circumstances on the day have resulted in any incorrect perception that a breach of the rules had occurred, or had possibly occurred.

Story and Logo courtesy of Racing Victoria, to view full RV story click here