Drug test samples stolen from vehicle after country's biggest meeting

In an incident which would have done credit to Dick Francis, the dope test samples taken from the first three in Saturday’s Vodacom Durban July, and from all the other winners at South Africa’s biggest race meeting, have been stolen.

The courier service vehicle, which was transporting them to the laboratory, was pulled over on the N2 motorway shortly after 9.30pmon Saturday by an unmarked white VW Golf with a flashing blue light and a PA system.

The driver assumed it was a police car, carried out the instructions to pull over, get out of the courier vehicle and lie down on the ground. But he was then robbed of his wallet and mobile phone by the three men in the Golf. They also took the sealed boxes containing the raceday specimens.

The boxes were spotted the following morning by a woman walking in the Pigeon Valley Nature Reserve near Durban. They had been forced open but the specimens were still inside.

She realised they were something to do with racing when she saw ‘Greyville, 7/7/2018’ written on the side. When she returned with police, a few hours later the boxes had disappeared.

National Horseracing Authority chief executive Lyndon Barends said: “The courier service has opened a criminal case at the Westville police station and is waiting for a case number to be assigned, but in the meantime we regret to inform people of these unfortunate happenings.”

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