Cummings fined, Savatiano stripped of Canterbury Stakes title
James Cummings has been fined $10,000 and Savatiano has been stripped of her sole Group 1 victory following an inquiry into the mare’s positive swab after her win in the 2021 Canterbury Stakes.
Savatiano won her first and only Group 1 race almost 12 months ago to the day, but following that win, she tested positive to the banned steroidal substances trendione, trenbolone and epitrenbolone – all of which are related to altrenogest, which is used in horses to suppress oestrus and schedule breeding activity.
Despite an extensive stewards investigation which included viewing CCTV footage from Cummings’ stable and veterinary records, there was no exact evidence of how Savatiano tested positive.
Under Australian Rule of Racing 240 (1), stewards had no option but to disqualify Savatiano as the winner of the Canterbury Stakes, which saw Anthony Cummings’ mare Mizzy promoted to first place, Masked Crusader move from third to second, and Savatiano’s stablemate Bivouac bumped up to third.
Savatiano and @HugeBowman get the chocolates for @godolphin in an exciting edition of the Group 1 Canterbury Stakes! pic.twitter.com/akU5vcJKlP
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) March 6, 2021
James Cummings’ barrister Tim Boyle accepted the disqualification of Savatiano, but he insisted that his client should not be issued any further penalties.
“My submission is Mr Cummings is blameless,” Boyle said in the hearing.
“Mr Cummings has been a licensed person since 2002, he has had over 7,000 starters and this has never happened to him before.”
Racing NSW chief steward Mark Van Gestel was satisfied with Boyle’s claim.
“We’re satisfied this is not a situation where we have an administration of an anabolic,” he said.
“We agree that this is a case where we can’t establish the reasons as to why we have prohibited substances being detected.”
The disqualification of Savatiano also means that winning rider Hugh Bowman no longer has 100 Group 1 wins, dropping back to 99 victories at the highest level.
Bowman will have two chances on Saturday at Royal Randwick to get back into triple figures, as he partners Forbidden Love in this year’s Canterbury Stakes and Forgot You in the Randwick Guineas.
Also in the Guineas will be the Cummings-trained Anamoe, who is a short-priced favourite at $1.70 with .