Horse ID mistake is costly

Trainer fined R10 000 after taking wrong horse to race

I admit I was at fault. I am sorry I made a stupid mistake. It won’t happen again

APORT Elizabeth trainer was fined R10 000 this week after she entered the wrong horse in a race at the Fairview Racecourse last month. Sharon Kotzen pleaded guilty on Tuesday after she failed to present the correctly carded horse into the first race on July 14 at the Greenbushes racecourse.

Kotzen was charged with contravening rule 72.1.45 after she entered another horse and not two-year-old Trini’s Oratorio.

“It was a trainers’ error. I brought a wrong horse to the race,” she said.

Kotzen appeared on Tuesday before an inquiry committee in Port Elizabeth, where she pleaded guilty.

“I have to face the music and be more careful in future,” she said.

“I made a mistake. It will never happen again. I want to move on and continue what I have been doing.”

The National Horseracing Authority (NHA) launched a probe after the stipendiary stewards discovered the wrong horse was fielded for the 1 200m race with a prize of R66 000.

The error was picked up after the microchip implanted in the horse was read and it failed to match Trini’s Oratorio details.

Kotzen said Trini’s Oratorio had been in Port Elizabeth but she had muddled up the name cards just before the race.

She refused to name the horse or the owner of the animal that was fielded as Trini’s Oratorio.

“I admit I was at fault. I am sorry I made a stupid mistake. It won’t happen again.

“It has affected my business but it won’t happen again. It has been a long two weeks of bad publicity,” Kotzen said.

Trini’s Oratorio belongs to Trinisha Pillay of KwaZulu-Natal, who could not be reached for comment.

In a statement, the NHA said: “The board found trainer Kotzen guilty as charged and having considered her plea in mitigation imposed a penalty of R10 000, of which R5 000 was suspended for 12 months on condition that she is not found guilty of the contravention of Rule 72.1.45 over the said period,”

Kotzen said she would not appeal against the NHA’s decision.

Eastern Cape stipendiary Mike Jones could not be reached for further comment.