Racing: Doping inquiry bans trainer

Leading harness racing trainer Mark Purdon has been disqualified for four months and fined $15,000 after admitting administering a substance to a horse.

The Judicial Control Authority committee yesterday also disqualified the Purdon-trained Light And Sound from two races in which it was placed last year.

It means Purdon will miss the two big races of the harness calendar, the New Zealand Cup and Auckland Cup, before his ban ends on January 1.

He was also ordered to pay costs of $1000 to Harness Racing New Zealand (HRNZ) and $1250 to the JCA.

HRNZ dropped doping charges relating to performance-enhancing substance blue magic, as Light And Sound had no positive swabs for it.

HRNZ lawyers were seeking a ban of at least one year after striking a deal with Purdon's lawyer, Nick Davidson, QC.

Under the deal, Purdon admitted a reduced charge of acting to the detriment of harness racing by twice administering a substance.

Purdon admitted he twice injected Light And Sound with a substance just hours from racing in the hope it would help a suspected internal bleeding problem.

In reaching the penalty, the JCA committee of chairman Geoff Hall and Neville Harris said the four-month ban would act as "a short, sharp shock, yet will emphasise the seriousness and foolishness of the defendant's actions".

Light And Sound was disqualified from the W. H. Transport Limited Handicap Pace at Addington, in Christchurch, on March 26 last year, which it won. It was also disqualified from the Noel J. Taylor Memorial Mile at Alexandra Park on April 16, in which it ran third.

Despite the absence of a positive swab, the committee disqualified Light And Sound in the interests of "maintaining integrity and public confidence in harness racing".

The investigation was complicated by the fact that two people alleged to have been involved - Light And Sound's millionaire owner John Seaton and alleged blue magic supplier Robert Asquith - are dead.

Purdon allegedly bought 10 vials of blue liquid from Asquith for $1500. He denied using the substance when his stables were raided by police in May last year.

Last Tuesday, HRNZ lawyer Chris Lange told the judicial hearing that Seaton was complicit in Purdon's use of blue magic.

Purdon was returning to New Zealand from Melbourne yesterday after driving Galleons Assassin to win the Australian Breeders' Crown two-year-old trotters' final at Cranbourne on Sunday night.

HRNZ said it would meet tomorrow and consider appealing against the penalty, having sought a one-year ban for Purdon.

- NZPA