Fisher, Faber and McRae have all been disqualified in EPO scandal

Judicial committee send clear message that cheats won’t be tolerated, reports Barry Lichter.

Retired harness trainer Donny McRae, who supplied the EPO, was disqualified for 12 months and ordered to pay costs of $ 800.

The three men became implicated in New Zealand’s first suspected case of blood doping when a syringe of EPO was found during a raid on Faber’s stables last September, resulting in two of his runners, The Hand Of Faith and Force Majeure, being ordered out of feature races at Riccarton.

During an April sitting into the case, the JCA committee, chaired by Murray McKechnie, heard how Fisher had procured the EPO from McRae, who was unwell and took EPO as part of his medication.

McRae, who held a trainer’s licence until 2011 but is now not actively involved in racing, gave Fisher the vial in the belief it might be used to treat a horse who was unwell.

Fisher claimed he took the vial thinking of it as a last resort to strengthen his horse, but never as a raceday enhancement.

While Fisher denied that McRae specifically identified the substance as EPO, McKechnie said all the evidence pointed to the contrary. The pair had spoken about disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong’s “juice” and the Tour de France at a time when the use of EPO in international sport was notorious.

Fisher later had discussions with Faber about the characteristics of EPO, among them that it did not test positive and was supposedly being used by leading trainers with the clear implication that this was to enhance racehorse performance.

McKechnie said it was accepted there was no attempt by Faber to administer the EPO but he should not have taken the vial from Fisher.

He must have known the vial was highly suspect, even if he did not know precisely that it was EPO.

His suspicion about the substance was demonstrated by his attempts to mislead his vet on how he got the vial.

EPO was a pernicious substance, McKechnie said, quoting New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s chief vet Andrew Grierson who said that, internationally, EPO had the highest possible classification as a class one drug and controlling bodies worldwide viewed it as a grave offence for any trainer to even have it in their possession.

“It must be made plain to all involved in the industry that EPO has no place, whatever its claimed medicinal qualities might be,” McKechnie said.

The committee recognised that there were differing levels of culpability between the three men but disqualification was appropriate in each case.

McKechnie rejected pleas by the RIU for bans of 30 months for Fisher and McRae and 18 months for Faber.

A comparable 2011 case in Australia involving Bevan and Richard Laming, who were put out for three years, was far more serious as three horses had tested positive to DPO, a synthetic form of EPO.