NZ racing’s rising star Cody Cole set to appeal 1-year training disqualification

Cody Cole is having a career-best year and sits fifth on the national trainer's premiership. Photo / Trish Dunell

One of the rising stars of New Zealand racing, Cody Cole, is set to appeal a 12-month disqualification that could dramatically stall his career.

The Matamata thoroughbred trainer has been found guilty of failing to supply a urine sample when asked by Racing Integrity Board (RIB) officials during a morning track session at his home track on July 24 last year.

He provided a urine sample several days later that tested negative for any prohibited substances but was charged for not providing a sample on the day requested.

His year-long disqualification started last night and would put the brakes on the 35-year-old’s incredible rise through the training ranks in recent years.

After having just one horse in his care for early education 10 years ago, Cole has 80 horses in his books and sits equal fifth on the national trainer’s premiership.

His horses have won 39 races and over $1.5 million in stakes this season and he is seen as one of the future stars of the training ranks, including training horses for some of the industry’s biggest names on either side of the Tasman.

Cole says the 12-month sentence has floored him and his lawyer will be appealing both the verdict and the sentence.

“I have worked really hard to get where I am and I think it is ridiculous to be outed for so long,” Cole told the Herald.

“I was at the track that morning and was asked to give a sample but had to take some horses home to the stable and was going to go back.

“But I had a horse go through a fence and I had to go help it and by the time I was going to go back, they [the testing officials] were gone.

“I didn’t hear from the RIB for a week and when I did go present a sample it came back negative.

“I can understand being charged with failing to provide a sample, even with what I think were mitigating circumstances, but to have my livelihood taken away from me for a year is beyond belief.”

Horses in Cole’s care will be transferred to his father Tony’s name as of today and because he is disqualified, Cody will not be allowed to have any contact with them, or be allowed on a racetrack or at any racing stables.

Cole has emailed his owners telling them horses will be transferred to the name of stable foreman Troy Harris once he has his trainer’s licence approved by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, which is expected to be in the next few weeks.

The formerly Cole-trained Atmospheric will start in the $150,000 Manco Easter Handicap at Ellerslie on Saturday under Tony Cole’s care.

RIB officials spoken to by the Herald last night confirmed the details of the case and reiterated failure to provide a sample for drug testing when asked is considered a serious breach of the rules of racing.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.