Vet says didn’t think were cheating
The vet at the centre of cobalt cases in NSW and Victoria says he and the trainers never thought they were cheating.
Dr Tom Brennan said he and Flemington trainers Danny O’Brien and Mark Kavanagh did not know a substance called vitamin complex administered in drips contained cobalt.
The trainers’ barrister Damian Sheales asked Brennan why he would cheat with a horse that had no hope in a race, with the vet answering “we didn’t”.
“We didn’t think we were cheating,” Brennan told O’Brien and Kavanagh’s appeal against their cobalt disqualifications.
“We never thought we were cheating.”
Brennan agreed it made no sense to take such risks with a horse that had no hope in a race.
“We never knew that we were using cobalt,” Brennan told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Friday.
“We thought we were just using vitamin B to help the recovery of these horses. That is all.”
Brennan insists the trainers knew he was adding vitamin complex to drips given to the horses.