Race day inspections find banned substance in Heathcote runners

[Wandering Eyes]

Rob Heathcote’s runners were scratched from Doomben’s meeting by order of QRIC Stewards

Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) Stewards ordered that all four of Rob Heathcote’s runners be scratched at Doomben on Saturday, prior to the running of race one.

The Queensland trainer was set to saddle up Crymenotears (R4), Prince Of Boom (R7), Startantes (R7) and Starvirgo (R9) across the course of the afternoon, with Prince Of Boom the favourite for the Listed Mick Dittman Plate (1110m), but he was forced to wait for another day.

QRIC acted upon findings from a report from the QRIC Integrity Investigative Team (IIT) in regards to a banned substance – Hemoplex – during a routine Race Day inspection.

Hemoplex was only banned on May 1, 2021, due to containing cobalt substances, but Heathcote has claimed to use it for 20 years and wasn’t aware of the rule change.

“Racing Australia’s view is that there is no place for injectable supplements containing cobalt salts in racing when there is no therapeutic rationale for their use,” QRIC’s statement reads.

“Stewards will allege that an examination of the stable’s treatment book indicated that Mr Heathcote’s runners set to race at Doomben today, Crymenotears, Prince of Boom, Startantes and Starvirgo had received an injection of a product containing cobalt salts on 16 April 2022.”

Given the evidence from IIT officers and Heathcote, Stewards made the decision to scratch all four runners under AR254A (2) which states: Racing Australia’s view is that there is no place for injectable supplements containing cobalt salts in racing when there is no therapeutic rationale for their use.

Stewards will allege that an examination of the stable’s treatment book indicated that Mr Heathcote’s runners set to race at Doomben today, Crymenotears, Prince of Boom, Startantes and Starvirgo had received an injection of a product containing cobalt salts on 16 April 2022.

Heathcote is set to saddle up two horses at the Sunshine Coast on Sunday afternoon, but no decision has been made yet as to whether they will be able to take their place.

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