Trainer cops three years’ suspension

CLYDE trainer Richard Laming was last week suspended for three years in a landmark decision by Racing Victoria’s Appeals and Disciplinary Board.
Laming and his father Bevan, who runs the family’s training operation in Queensland, were the subjects of Australia’s first thoroughbred EPO case, pleading guilty to a series of charges pertaining to the possession and use of prohibited substances.
Laming Jnr pleaded guilty to three charges from out-of-competition blood samples – taken from two of his horses in June last year – and a further four charges from a resultant search of his Clyde property. The samples were found to contain a synthetic version of the human erythropoietin, which is commonly known as EPO and linked to the practise of blood doping.
Board chairman Judge Russell Lewis said the synthetic substance was used “to increase red blood cell concentration, resulting in an increased oxygen-carrying capacity to the muscles”.
The prohibited substances found at Laming’s property included adrenaline, an anti-inflammatory drug and an anti-bleeding agent.
Judge Lewis said he took into account 28-year-old Laming’s age and “absence of any previous transgressions” when handing down a punishment.
He also noted that the case was of “considerable significance”, before concluding that “nothing less than a lengthy term of disqualification is the appropriate penalty”.
Laming Jnr will begin his period of disqualification from midnight on 30 November, while Laming Snr was fined $1000 for his small part in the drug scandal.
– Paul Pickering