Trainer Willie Mullins has been fined and his horse, Final Demand, disqualified from a race at the Cheltenham Festival following a failed doping test. An independent British Horseracing Authority (BHA) disciplinary panel found that Final Demand ran with a "prohibited substance" in its system.
The horse, which finished second in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase at Cheltenham in March, had mepivacaine, a local anaesthetic, in its body. Mullins failed to declare the use of mepivacaine on the horse in its medical declaration forms submitted before the race.
The BHA panel stated there was no suggestion Mullins or his staff knew of the administration of mepivacaine, and reasonable precautions were in place. Mullins was fined £1,100.
During the investigation, it emerged that CCTV footage from a yard where the horse was kept had not been retained, a requirement for racecourses. The panel was informed that the hard drive containing the footage had been "misplaced". Cheltenham Racecourse was fined £5,000 for this rule breach, though the panel noted the horse had moved yards when it received the dose, and relevant footage was obtained.