Racing: Paste puts horse out

Victorian stipendiary stewards ordered the withdrawal of one of transtasman trainer Mike Moroney's runners at the Flemington meeting after a race morning stable inspection.

Birak Attack was scratched from the last race at Flemington on Wednesday after two stewards reported the horse had been treated with a vitamin-enriched paste called Cophos B.

A stablehand gave evidence that she thought the horse, an emergency for the race, had not gained a start and set about treating it.

The evidence was corroborated by Moroney and his stable foreman, The Australian newspaper reported.

Cophos B is not a prohibited substance, but treatment of horses on race day is a breach of the rules. Stewards will reconvene their inquiry when test results from a sample of the paste and a swab sample from Birak Attack are back from analysts.

- NZPA