Havlin loses final appeal against drug ban

– Robert Havlin has failed in his final appeal to France Galop against a six-month ban for failing a doping test.

The 45-year-old attended a third hearing in Paris at the start of the month but the BHA was informed on Monday that the suspension has been upheld and that France Galop will demand the ban

Paris

is reciprocated in Britain.

In an 11-page dossier summarising this second stage of appeal, further details of Havlin’s argument to have the decision overturned emerged.

Havlin told the hearing on 6 March believed there were problems with the collection of his sample at Saint-Cloud last October and also that he believed that he may have been accidentally contaminated. He also contested the independence of previous hearings and the severity of his punishment.

Describing his day-to-day routine as “monastic”, Havlin told the appellant stewards that he could have no way of knowing how the banned substances got into his system but that, in passing through a train station and, in particular, a fast food restaurant on his way to France, accidental contamination would have been “extremely easy”.

Havlin did not contest the presence of three banned substances contained in medication he was taking for an injury and argued he believed he had observed the appropriate delay before riding.

But throughout the saga he has disputed positive results for two other drugs, one of which is named in the report as morphine. The three-person panel rejected the appeal and Havlin is banned until 4 October. –