Dubai: Godolphin handler Mahmoud Al Zarouni was banned for eight years by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) for his role in administering banned substances to several of his horses based in Newmarket, England.
The ruling was handed out to Al Zarouni following a closed-door disciplinary hearing at the BHA headquarters in London on Thursday.
A specially convened three-man panel cross-questioned Al Zarouni to determine by what means the 37-year-old handler had carried out his transgressions, despite having previously been warned by the BHA when two horses failed a drug test last season. Al Zarouni was fined £1,000 for the breach on that occasion.
On April 9, a BHA team visited Al Zarouni’s Moulton Paddocks Stables in Newmarket, where they gathered blood and urine samples from 45 horses.
Consequent analysis revealed 11 of the samples contained ethylestranol and stanozolol, substances banned under British horse racing rules.
The BHA also suspended the 11 horses, along with four more Al Zarouni admitted to having given steroids, from competition for six months.
The BHA said the ban’s length means the horses will derive ‘no performance related benefit’ when they return to action.
Earlier on Monday, Al Zarouni publicly apologised for what he described as a ‘catastrophic error’ and said he did not realise he had broken any rules as the horses were not in competition at the time.
Meanwhile, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice- President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who established the Godolphin stable to which Al Zarouni was appointed as trainer in 2010, has ordered Moulton Paddocks to be shut down temporarily in light of the scandal.
