Racing New South Wales stewards opened an inquiry on Monday (July 25) into the analyst’s finding of benzoylecgonine, a metabolite of cocaine, in the urine sample taken from the 3-year-old filly Love You Honey, who finished unplaced in race seven April 25, 2005, at Gosford Racecourse in Australia.

The horse is trained by Australia’s leading trainer, Gai Waterhouse. As it is in many racing jurisdictions, cocaine is completely banned in Australia.

The trainer was in attendance with her lawyer, Clive Jeffreys, as was her stablehand, Roy Storch, who also had his lawyer with him. The possibility that the cocaine was passed secondhand through hands has been offered by Waterhouse as the reason why the horse had traces of cocaine in her system.

At the hearing, evidence was taken from Waterhouse and Storch, and evidence was heard from ARFL official analyst Allen Stenhouse and Racing NSW senior official veterinarian, Craig Suann, BVSc, who assisted the inquiry. A total of 71 exhibits were tendered, including a submission from Thomas Tobin, MVB, PhD, Dipl. ABT, a veterinary pharmacologist and toxicologist in Lexington, Ky