Swab results clear scratched Heathcote horses
GROUP 1-placed filly Startantes will take her place in the Group 2 Victory Stakes in Brisbane after she and other Rob Heathcote runners dramatically scratched last Saturday returned swabs with no irregularities.
It was revealed on Friday afternoon that all four Heathcote runners which were scratched by order of stewards at Doomben last weekend had now been given the green light to race on Saturday.
Leading lights Startantes and Prince Of Boom – as well as Heathcote stablemates Crymenotears and Starvirgo – were prevented from racing last weekend. Group 1 winner Heathcote insisted it was an honest mistake when integrity officials found bottles of Hemoplex at his stables on race morning and said he had been using the product for decades.
He was unaware it had been
banned last year because it contains a minuscule amount of cobalt.
Heathcote said he was certain there would be no positive swab results from any horses tested over the ordeal and that was confirmed on Friday.
Three-year-old filly Startantes, who was last seen at the races when going down a whisker in the Group 1 Surround Stakes at Randwick in February, is a $9.50 chance in the Victory Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
She will take on her Group 1-winning stablemate Rothfire ($2.30).
It is expected that Prince Of Boom, who was among the scratchings at Doomben last Saturday, will next race in the Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas on May 7.
It is expected a stewards inquiry into the events surrounding Heathcote’s runners being scratched last Saturday will be held early next week.