Mark Johnston raises contamination fears after bloody find at Southwell

Mark Johnston questioned the failure to clean all racecourse stables completely after blood-stained cotton wool was found in a box given to one of his horses at Southwell.

He cited cross-contamination fears after the case was referred to the BHA following a stewards' inquiry into the discovery of the cotton wool in a stable allocated to Lion Tower on Wednesday.

"When they came back from declaring the horse, he had disturbed the shavings and the groom found this piece of cotton wool," Johnston said. "The horse was moved to another box and the vets and stewards took over investigating it.

"We have such strict rules on biosecurity and yet the racecourses no longer muck the box right out, which to me is highly debatable. I realise how much waste there is in mucking the box right out but how they can put the onus on trainers to ensure biosecurity and yet expect us to use a box that has been occupied by another horse? I'm not really sure.

"I appreciate it is a lot of work and a lot of expense to clean out the boxes every time but I'm not sure what the alternative is if the rules on biosecurity are so strict for the trainers. How do we ensure we are not the victims of someone else's carelessness?"

Mark Johnston: the relentless record breaker who is always trying

It is not known whether the cotton wool was stained with human or equine blood but the case echoes an incident last year at Kempton, where Jon Scargill found old feed pellets on the floor of a box and the track was subsequently fined £3,500.

However, Southwell clerk of the course Paul Barker stressed: "We clean the stables out as per the BHA guidance. If we've had no report of anything from the vet or the BHA a box gets a level one clean, which is to remove the soiled bedding, wet bedding and anything like that.

"If there is a report of any treatment to a horse, it's an Irish overnighter or there's been a problem, it becomes a level two, which is total emptying and a steam clean.

"There is an additional workload and an additional cost to that. But at the end of the day horse welfare is paramount, if we need to clean them out then we do that."

Paul Barker: 'We clean the stables out as per the BHA guidance'Credit: David Carr

Asked whether courses should completely clean every box after use, Barker said: "We'd all love to have rubber matting at the bottom of every stable with bedding in and everything emptied each day but unfortunately there is quite a financial cost to that.

"And there is an onus on trainers to inform the racecourse if they've treated a horse or they've left feed in the stable, to make us aware. Most times we'd turn that into a level two clean if they've informed us."

Now read:

Trainer Jon Scargill hits out as Kempton runner eats old feed from stable floor

Kempton fined £3,500 over old feed on stable floor

Read The Lowdown from 8.30am daily on racingpost.com and the Racing Post app for all the day's going updates, news and tips