Queensland trainer wins cobalt appeal

Queensland trainer Lyn Paton has won her appeal against a 12-month disqualification for alleged cobalt irregularities in two of her horses.

Paton’s lawyers successfully argued both the A and B samples were tested at Racing Science Centre at Albion Park which was not permissible under the Queensland Racing Act as it then stood.

In a written judgment handed down on Wednesday, the Queensland Racing Disciplinary Board upheld the appeal and set aside the conviction and sentence.

“The Board is reasonably satisfied the evidence provided as prima facie proof of the existence of the prohibited substance was fundamentally flawed and unreliable to justify a finding of guilt,” the RDB wrote.

WilliamHill.com.au

Based at Coominya, near Ipswich, Paton was disqualified after Pink Chaperone and Doing Our Best recorded high cobalt levels following wins at Toowoomba and Kilcoy respectively in October.

Paton is the second Queensland trainer in a week to have an appeal against cobalt upheld after Toowoomba’s Rochelle Smith won her case against a 12-month ban.

Paton’s lawyer Matt Tutt, who also represented Smith, said the findings of the RDB had been made on different grounds.

He said Smith’s appeal had been upheld because the B sample was not tested by an accredited centre at the time but Paton’s had been because the samples were both tested at the RSC.

“While the RSC was accredited the testing was not in accordance with the Act,” he said.

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