A champion Irish greyhound has tested positive for a cocaine-like drug.
Clonbrien Hero, winner of the prestigious Laurels race, showed traces of benzoylecgonine, which is a metabolite of cocaine in three samples.
The dog, owned by Co. Limerick’s Kay Murphy and trained by Graham Holland, tested positive for the prohibited substance in July.
Last December another of Holland’s champion greyhounds made the news, Clares Rocket, was kidnapped by a criminal gang for ransom but was later recovered unharmed without any money being paid.
The Irish Greyhound Board has released a statement in response to the allegations but says it can’t comment on individual cases.
“The Irish Greyhound Board (IGB), as part of its robust testing regime, publishes any adverse findings as they arise. The details of recent adverse analytical findings have been published on IGB’s website on Wednesday, September 13th 2017.
Adverse analytical findings are reported by IGB to the Control Committee pursuant to the Greyhound Industry (Racing) Regulations, with a request for the Control Committee to investigate the matter as provided for in legislation.
IGB does not comment on individual cases which have been referred to the Control Committee and which may proceed to investigation. Decisions of the Control Committee may also be appealed.
As part of its commitment to greater transparency in the area of anti-doping and medication control, IGB introduced secondary legislation in 2015 to provide for the publication of all adverse analytical findings in greyhound samples and to ensure the publication of the outcome from all cases before the Control Committee. Additionally in 2016, the Board introduced secondary legislation to provide for record keeping in relation to the use of medicines and the treatment of greyhounds, as well as powers to implement the off-track sampling of greyhounds for prohibited substances (whether in training or otherwise).”
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