Trainer Greg McFarlane. Photo: Peter Rae
Trainer Greg McFarlane faces possible criminal charges and a 12-month ban after being caught with drenching equipment in the nose of Ferocimo three hours before the gelding was due to race at Rosehill on Saturday.
Racecourse detective Albert Gardner caught McFarlane and a stable employee ''around 1.10pm'' in Ferocimo's box at his Rosehill stables with a tube up the horse's nose while a bucket and funnel were also on hand.
Stable employee Carmen Hepburn denied the horse had been treated when Gardner appeared unannounced at the stables.
''At 1.32pm I asked if he tubed the horse and he said he didn't, he said it was Belegic,'' steward Greg Rudolph said.
Chief steward Ray Murrihy asked McFarlane why he lied to Rudolph.
''It was a knee-jerk reaction,'' McFarlane said. ''I'd done a couple before that. I don't know why I did him, it was stupid. There's not much I can say because it's against the rules of racing.
''It just helps his enzyme levels. It's not about making the horse perform above its normal capacity.''
Under Australian rules, a trainer or licensee attempting to stomach tube or be the party to the stomach tubing of a horse within 24 hours of a race can be suspended for 12 months.
Murrihy stressed the seriousness of the issue to McFarlane.
''The stewards aren't in the business of letting a metropolitan horse race three hours after being tubed,'' Murrihy said. ''The matter is of the most serious kind.''
Gardner's confrontation with McFarlane even got physical as the trainer did his best to hide the tubing evidence. ''I saw two heads in the stable and I saw Carmen, who looked surprised to see me,'' Gardner said.
''Mr McFarlane seemed to be concealing a white bucket with fluid in it. I was told it wasn't a starter today. I saw the tube up its nose and I was told it would be taken to another stable.''
Blood and urine samples from Ferocimo and other horses in the stable were also taken.
Stewards said McFarlane could continue training while investigations were ongoing but he would not be allowed to race horses, with his acceptors at Wellington and Kembla Grange on Tuesday to be withdrawn.
McFarlane, a former top cyclist who missed out on qualifying for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, said he was not a punter.
In May, northern NSW trainer Cody Morgan became the first licensed person charged after changes to the NSW Crimes Act which state those found guilty of fraudulent conduct or to have inside information that potentially could affect betting outcomes on an event including a horse race, face penalties that could result in up to 10 years' imprisonment.
With aap
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