TRAINER Philip Fenton has been hit with a €2,500 fine after his Kilbeggan handicap hurdle winner Shraheen tested positive for a banned substance.

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board also announced this week that handler Eddie Power was separately fined €1,000 in relation to a positive test for point-to-point winner The Top G, who scored on debut at Tallow in February. He was bought back for £70,000 at the Tattersalls Cheltenham February Sale later that month.

In the post-race sampling, both horses were found to contain triamcinolone acetonide (TCA), a corticosteroid anti-inflammatory medication commonly used in equine practice for injured or inflamed joints.

Fenton explained that his vet advised him to treat the five-year-old gelding with TCA and recommended a withdrawal period of 14-22 days. The multiple Grade 1-winning trainer, who noted he has had over 600 runners in the last eight years with no such issues, stated he gave the animal a withdrawal period of 24 days.

Referrals committee chairman Peter Allen said: “It is our view that if elective testing had been carried out it would have been of great benefit in this case and in any other case and we would strongly recommend that it should be considered by all trainers in the future when appropriate.”

The committee imposed a fine of €1,250 for the adverse analytical finding, and a further €1,250 for a “failure to keep proper and accurate records of the medicines administered to his horses as is required.”

Register query

Allen added: “We found that there were significant breaches over a long period of certain items which should have been included in the medicines register and there are a number of blanks in columns that should have been filled.”

Fenton was suspended for three years in 2014 over possessing anabolic steroids and other banned substances following a Department of Agriculture inspection in 2012.

He has had six winners so far this jumps season, the most recent coming at Tramore on Thursday.

Riyami, representing Denis Hogan, Daniel King and the Carthy, Rogers and O’Brien Partnership, has been promoted to first in the Kilbeggan contest.

As for The Top G, Power said he was advised to give the horse 14 days before running him and he had considered running him after 17 days, but the ground was not suitable and therefore it was 24 days before he raced at Tallow.

Power explained that he “knew nothing about elective testing at the time but has subsequently learned a lot from this case.”

In relation to his medicines register, the handler stated that he was of the opinion that he was completing the register correctly and didn’t realise there was some information missing for The Top G and another horse named The Piper.

On top of the €1,000 fine for the failed test, Power was fined €250 for the absence of register information relating to The Piper.

Allstitchedup, trained/owned by Matthew Flynn O’Connor and ridden by Brian Lawless, has been promoted to first in the relevant point-to-point.