RACING FORUM

Posted: **Sun Sep 11, 2016 7:03 am**

Cobalt saga: Peter Moody accuses RV of incompetence after head vet admits mistake not informing trainers how vitamins could affect cobalt levels

DARYL TIMMS, Herald Sun

September 9, 2016 11:30am

BANISHED trainer Peter Moody has lashed out at Racing Victoria, accusing it of gross incompetence in the handling of cobalt charges against trainers.

Moody, who received a 12-month suspension — with six months of it suspended — said that admissions this week by RV’s chief veterinary Dr Brian Stewart that some vitamins and minerals could push horses over the then cobalt threshold had come too late.

Stewart told a Victorian Administrative and Civil Tribunal’s hearing on Thursday that the administration of some vitamins and minerals, including VAM, could push horses over the limit.

Stewart admitted that in hindsight trainers should have been told of the potential of some vitamins pushing cobalt levels beyond the then level of 200 micrograms of cobalt per litre of urine.

Stewart was giving evidence into the appeal of lengthy suspensions handed down to Flemington trainers Mark Kavanagh and Danny O’Brien on cobalt charges.

Moody shut down his Caulfield stables and is doing some consultancy work in the industry. He is free to return to training later this month, but said today he has not considered it.

He said his legal fees to defend his charges had cost him “the guts of a half a million dollars”.

“I have lost everything,” he said. “I have lost my business, my way of making a living, my reputation — everything. They (Racing Victoria) came out in the papers and you blokes (media) printed it, believing all they said was gospel and now we found out it was not.”

Moody said at the time he didn’t cheat and still maintains he didn’t do anything wrong.

“They couldn’t charge me with cheating, so they then charged me with being incompetent.

“And now all this comes out ... in hindsight and we should have done things differently. It’s a bit late for me.”

He said when RV couldn’t get him on the charge of deliberately administering excessive levels of cobalt, he received the lesser charge of non-intentional administration.

The 46-year-old was found guilty of unintentionally administering his horse Lidari with excessive levels of cobalt in the Turnbull Stakes in October 2014.

Moody argued at the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board that the inadvertent use by a stable employee of excessive amounts of a hoof powder had pushed the levels over the limit.

He said he not even considered the prospect of seeking compensation if O’Brien and Kavanagh, along with Lee and Shannon Hope, are cleared by VCAT.

“I am just expressing my disappointment and I feel like a school kid doing it,” Moody said. “Everyone looks at you as though you’ve got two heads and think you’re a cheat and now all this comes out.”