Racing: Ice alert brings call for drug tests

Regina Coeli (left) could be heading to Ellerslie's Great Northern Steeplechase in September. Photo / Getty Images

Leading trainer says he tests his entire staff on a regular and random basis.

Champion Australian trainer David Hayes has called for all trainers to do their own drug testing of stable staff because of the increasing presence of methamphetamine.

Last week a Mornington-trained galloper produced a positive drug test to methamphetamine, known in Australia as ice.

Tests are being performed to discover whether the horse, Shopaholic, was contaminated by a member of the stable staff taking the drug himself or whether the meth was administered.

"It's either one or the other, and we have asked for urine tests from the horse's trainer, Matt Laurie, his current staff and former staff members to see if the horse was contaminated," said Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey.

"If it is a matter of contamination, it's a very worrying scenario and I think there is an obligation on trainers to look at drug testing." It's understood that if an ice user handles a racehorse, especially if altering a bridle or handling the bit, contamination can occur.

Hayes, one of Australia's leading trainers, said on Tuesday he drug tests his entire staff on a regular and random basis at his Echuca property.

Training more than 120 horses, Hayes said there is no place for drugs, especially ice, in the racing industry.

"We have a zero policy here. We need to protect our bases when those using ice are erratic. Some could turn around and say well why didn't you check on certain members of your staff.

"We don't pick and choose, it's [an] everybody tested situation here."

Ice lends itself to erratic, unreliable behaviour and of course presents the situation of contamination.

"There is no place for ice users in this industry and we see it as very much a necessity to have staff tested," Hayes said.

Ice positives have also occurred in Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart with analysts now freely predicting that cases of contamination will become more frequent as the drug is so widely used in society.

Pressure will mount on the Australian Trainers' Association to implement a form of drug testing to keep stables safe from those on ice.

Bailey added that it was a "scourge on society" and supported Hayes, maintaining there was no place for such substances in racing. However, Bailey said it would be an enormous stretch of resources by RVL investigators to randomly test every stablehand under their jurisdiction.

"We can't be everywhere, all the time, so I think there's an obligation on the trainers, as it is a workplace, to hold tests on a regular basis. And they will know better than me, what staff will be under suspicion and those who aren't. It has all sorts of complications, not only contamination, but those riding trackwork," he said.

• Further to the Racing Integrity Unit's (RIU) media release dated June 23, the RIU has been advised that the samples for the horses Suffire and Sound Proposition, trained by Lance O'Sullivan and Andrew Scott at Matamata, have been confirmed as positive for cobalt.

The RIU is continuing its investigation into these results and the previously advised positive for the horse Quintastics.

• Ciaron Maher is a much deeper thinker than his rock star hair style and appearance would suggest.

The Victorian thoroughbred trainer believes his high class steeplechaser Regina Coeli needs a marathon distance and heavy footing to produce her best.

Is there a better race anywhere in the world for that type of horse than Ellerslie's Great Northern Steeplechase, which Maher has his eye on?

Regina Coeli is a Latin prayer for Queen Of Heaven and most horses going up the terrifying Ellerslie Hill the third time in the Great Northern are looking for some Godlike help. "That will suit her perfectly," says Maher, who won the famous Grand Annual Steeples with Regina Coeli on May 7.