A racing trainer has been banned for 10 years after admitting to injecting a horse with vodka.
Experienced harness trainer Phillip Burrows was hit with the decade-long disqualification by New Zealand’s Judicial Control Authority after being caught in the act before one of the country’s biggest race meets of the year.
And Burrows later explained he felt ‘behind the eight ball’ and ‘just wanted to do his best.’
The 51-year-old was investigated alongside former harness racing star Matthew Anderson following the incident on the morning of the iconic Cup Day at Addington Raceway in Christchurch in November.
At the time of the offence, Anderson had been prohibited under the Racing Industry Act over a separate conviction of assault. And the two men were charged for allegedly administering a prohibited substance into the horse Rakero Rebel ahead of the popular meeting at the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club.
Rakero Rebel had been scratched from the race on November 8 amid the allegations, and it has now been revealed that investigators carried out covert surveillance which provided damming evidence of Burrows’ guilt.
The NZ Herald reports footage was played during a hearing on Tuesday showing the duo bringing the horse into the Rakero Racing Stables in Fernside. The horse’s neck was injected with a substance by Burrows, who was using a hypodermic syringe, with the help of Anderson.
Shortly after, Burrows and Anderson were filmed tubing the horse, which is the process of inserting a tube through the nostril into the oesophagus ahead of administering a liquid substance. Burrows was seen with a plastic container and tubing equipment as he tipped liquid into the horse’s nostril via a funnel.
The tubing process took place under four hours before the start of Race 7, which Rakero Rebel had been entered into at around 3pm.
But when Rakero Rebel was moved onto Burrows’ float by Anderson before transporting to the race track, the trainer was caught by Racing Industry Board investigators.
And Burrows has now admitted to injecting Rakero Rebel with 30mls of vodka in an attempt to calm the horses’ nerves ahead of the race. Burrows also admitted to illegally tubing Rakero Rebel with a mixture of bicarbonate of soda, Epsom salts, brown sugar and water.
He assisted investigators by directing them towards the tubing equipment and the vodka that been used in the administration.
“It’s a group 1 race and you just feel like you’re behind the eight ball sometimes and you just want to do your best, get the best result you can for the owners…” Burrows later explained, as he apologised for his actions.
Anderson, meanwhile, had initially denied the allegations against him but has now admitted to holding the horse while Burrow injected it.
The former jockey was also charged with ‘acting in contravention of the rules as a prohibited person’. He has pleaded guilty to the charges and is set to hear his punishment at a penalty hearing.
