Why it would be dangerous for racing's rulers to put doping issue on back burner

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In Monday's email Chris writes on doping and racecourse stable security – and subscribers can get more great insight, tips and racing chat from Chris every Monday to Friday.

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The Front Runner has some reassuring news and some unsettling thoughts to share as background conversations continue on the subjects of doping and racecourse stable security, following the recent verdict in the Ladies First case. The reassuring bit, and it is only sort-of reassuring, is that officials believe the activities of the two dopers involved in that case were contained and not extensive.

This is an issue because the pair, named by the BHA as Neil Waggot and Stephen Walker, were employed by Newcastle racecourse to work in the stable area and must have had access to runners on many, many racedays. They were caught because Ladies First tested positive for the beta blocker Timolol, which led to a review of CCTV footage, on which they could be seen approaching her when they had no reason to do so and seemingly feeding something to her.

Were they unlucky to be caught? I wouldn't say that. The test taken from Ladies First that day was one of 9,909 raceday tests taken by the BHA in 2018, averaging almost one per race.

Disappointing favourites are often tested at the track, for obvious reasons. If you're a doper who is a bit cavalier about the risk of being caught on CCTV, you would have to be pretty foolhardy to expect that you could keep getting away with the same MO for a long period.

But the issue arises because James Bethell has been in touch, following my article on Friday, to share his concerns about Briardale, a horse he trained who flopped at Newcastle in June 2017. A month earlier, Briardale had won the Zetland Gold Cup by six lengths, the best run of his life, and he had won at Newcastle a month before that, but this time he was beaten two furlongs out and trailed home in last with the jockey reporting that something felt amiss.

"It took him years to get back to the sort of form where he could win a race," Bethell reports. Naturally enough, in the light of the Ladies First story, he is very concerned that his horse may have been got at in the Newcastle stables.

The BHA say they heard from Bethell on this subject in 2018 and investigated. "We are confident that Briardale was not doped," they tell me, though the basis of their confidence is not spelled out.

On the wider question of doping, they add: "There is a significant intelligence background to the whole investigation that gives us reason to believe Waggot and Walker were not operating in this way for a prolonged period. The investigation did consider other horses and further testing took place, the results of which were negative for Timolol."

In sum, the BHA urges us to accept that Ladies First (along with Victoriano, nobbled the same day) was probably an isolated incident rather than the moment that serial dopers were finally caught. "The Ladies First case was brought to light through testing," they say. "We regularly test disappointing favourites. Had there been a spate of activity along these lines then it is likely that testing, or betting records, would have identified the issue. However, there is no evidence that this is the case."

Hughie Morrison: was told by the BHA that the Southwell footage had been viewed and showed nothingCredit: Edward Whitaker

But it's time to reflect once more on another troubling case, that of Our Little Sister, who tested positive for an anabolic steroid in mid-January 2017, as a result of which her trainer Hughie Morrison spent that year fearing his licence was at risk before a disciplinary panel found he was not responsible for the injection that must have taken place.

That case also involved issues of racecourse stable security and CCTV coverage because Morrison suspected Our Little Sister may have been jabbed while she was waiting to race at Southwell about two weeks before her positive test. By the time the BHA asked Southwell for the CCTV footage from that fixture, in late March, it was no longer available.

Worse, the BHA then told Morrison that the Southwell footage had been viewed and showed nothing. This was later corrected and the blame put on a communication mix-up between staff.

At any rate, I sensed at the time a general feeling of reluctance to believe that the Southwell footage would actually have shown anything significant. It was certainly a missing piece in a puzzling jigsaw but there seemed little faith among observers that, had it been found, the whole picture would then make sense. Racecourses stables were thought to be secure.

The Ladies First case changes that. Now we know security is not so tight as to prevent horses from being doped by people who have nothing to do with them, and that the presence of cameras is not enough to deter dopers.

It is a subject on which we need to hear from the regulator about how matters can be improved and similar cases avoided. But it is not an ideal time for the BHA to be giving their attention to such a subject, with the whip review edging towards a conclusion, changes to the weight regime proving more contentious than expected, an official response to Freddy Tylicki's court verdict still awaited and continuing discussion backstage about how the sport's governance structure might be changed, not to mention the potential impact of the looming gambling review. Hopefully, someone is still available to worry about future funding.

Racing's rulers have a lot of pans coming to the boil. But sticking this subject on the back burner would be dangerous.

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday