Martin Brassil has Listowel winner disqualified for positive test

Cheltenham Festival-winning trainer Martin Brassil has seen his JP McManus-owned Listowel handicap hurdle winner Vent De La Cote disqualified after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

At an Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board referrals hearing held at the Curragh on Friday, Brassil was fined €1,000 for the offence but the fine was waived by the committee.

In total, three horses were disqualified at IHRB headquarters for positive tests and each of the three trainers had their fines waived, so were essentially absolved of blame by the regulator.

Exact details of the cases will not be revealed until the official reports are published next week, but it is the second time in the space of a year that one of Brassil's horses has been thrown out after testing positive for a banned substance.

City Island, who went on to secure the Kildare handler a famous triumph in the Ballymore Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham in March, was stripped of his win in a Galway maiden hurdle last summer after testing positive for arsenic, a breach that was attributed to a seaweed-based supplement.

City Island: gave Martin Brassil a Cheltenham Festival winCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

On that occasion, Brassil's €1,000 fine was also waived as the offence was similarly deemed to have been unintentional.

Following Vent De La Cote's disqualification in the September 13 event, the Harry Kelly-trained, Jamie Codd-ridden Great Trango, who had been sent off the 2-1 favourite, is promoted to first place.

Just Get Cracking has also lost his Limerick handicap hurdle win in November after testing positive for o-desmethylvenlafaxine, an anti-depressant medication.

The breach was ascribed to inadvertent human cross-contamination and the gelding's Bandon-based trainer James Dullea's fine of €1,000 was waived.

Trainer James Dullea, whose Just Get Cracking has been disqualified from his Limerick win in November after testing positive for a prohibited substanceCredit: Patrick McCann

In Just Get Cracking's place, Antimatter, trained by Donncha Duggan and ridden by Katie O'Farrell, is promoted to first.

The third case on Friday was what is understood to be the only remaining cobalt positive among eight outstanding breaches in the system prior to Friday's sittings.

It involved Mick The Jiver, who has been disqualified from his handicap chase win at Fairyhouse on December 15.

His trainer Eoghan O'Grady, who like Dullea is based in County Cork, escaped further sanction as it was established the source of the enhanced level of cobalt in the winner's system was a salt lick.

Eoghan O'Grady (left), whose Fairyhouse winner Mick The Jiver has been disqualified from his Fairyhouse win in December after elevated levels of cobalt were found in his systemCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

It is understood O'Grady had stopped using the salt lick by the time the IHRB subsequently inspected his yard, having learned that Joseph O'Brien's Gowran Park winner Pedisnap's cobalt breach, which was published on December 21, was attributed to a similar product.

Following Mick The Jiver's disqualification, Consharon Boy, trained by Terence O'Brien and ridden by Jack Kennedy, will be promoted.

Last week the IHRB's chief veterinary officer Dr Lynn Hillyer admitted the regulator was frustrated at the ongoing level of breaches.

With two more positive tests still pending from 2018, last year's spike totals 27.

Since cutting long-standing ties with BHP Laboratories in Limerick in February 2018, the IHRB has been using the LGC lab in Newmarket, which is expected to be announced as having won the tender for its long-term contract in the coming weeks.

Also on Friday, conditional rider Chris Timmons received the all-clear to resume riding on June 14.

In November 2018, Timmons was banned for four years after testing positive for cocaine, but a caveat added that his sanction could be reviewed in the interim if he engaged with the recommended rehabilitation programme.

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