Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW) stewards have concluded an inquiry into analysts’ reports that the urine sample taken from Winsome Charlee after that greyhound had won the Macro Meats Golden Easter Egg semi final number 3 run at Wentworth Park on Saturday 23 March 2013, had been analysed and confirmed to contain the prohibited substance 5beta-androstane-3alpha, 17beta-diol, a metabolite of testosterone, at a concentration of greater than 10ng/ml, in a bitch.
This was the fourth sitting of the inquiry, with earlier hearings conducted on 7 March 2014, 9 July 2014 and 5 September 2014. Mr Finn was represented by solicitor Glenn Walters throughout the inquiry.
Evidence was taken from trainer John Finn, Melinda Finn, GRNSW employee Danielle PulGarin, Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory’s (ARFL) Dr Adam Cawley and Chem Centre WA Team Leader James White. Written evidence was tendered from the ARFL, and Chem Centre WA.
Mr Finn could offer no explanation to the inquiry as to the detection of the prohibited substance.
Mr Finn pleaded not guilty to a charge under Gar 83(2) (a) in that he was responsible for the presentation of Winsome Charlee for the race in question other than free of prohibited substances in that the urine sample taken from the greyhound after the race was found on confirmatory analysis to contain the prohibited substance 5beta-androstane-3alpha, 17beta-diol, a metabolite of testosterone, at a concentration of greater than 10 ng/ml in a bitch.
Mr Finn was ultimately found guilty as charged. He was subsequently fined $2,000.
In determining penalty, stewards took into consideration Mr Finn’s lengthy period of registration and the significant number of cleared swabs returned by greyhounds trained by him, Mr Finn’s notional not guilty plea in light of the submissions made by Mr Walters, the status of the race in question and the poor public perception Garnered by the positive sample, and parity with other penalties applied with reGards to this substance around the same period.
A measure of leniency was extended as stewards were mindful that this was one of the first reports of the presence at excessive levels of this substance in a greyhound sample in NSW after the introduction of the rule on 1 January 2013.
The particular factors in this case should not be seen as a precedent in similar cases of presentation of a greyhound found to have a Category Three level substance detected in a sample in the future.
Winsome Charlee was disqualified from the race in question and the placings amended accordingly.
Winsome Charlee was also disqualified from her minor placing in the Macro Meats Golden Easter Egg final.
