The NHRA came to my stables in September and proceeded to search my stables. They turned the place upside down searching through my stables including my feed and car. They took away many bags of feed samples, feed supplements routinely fed to horses by most trainers as well as medications commonly utilized in racing stables.

I was duly notified that an inquiry would be opened because they found an empty paste tube of Nitrotain. The tube had expired in 2011 and had been used 6 years ago to treat a horse with Laminitis. They found that it had contained an anabolic steroid and fined me R30000. In mitigation, I argued that, firstly it had expired over three years ago, was empty and was lying in the cupboard. Secondly, I have a clean record having never transgressed in my twenty eight years as a trainer and, thirdly, had never had a positive specimen taken from any of my horses.

The rule concerning steroids only changed in June this year, long after the paste had expired. All anabolic steroids were banned from racing in June, only after a recommendation by the Trainers Association’s to the NHA to have it classified as such. Prior to this, anabolic steroids were regularly prescribed by vets to improve appetite and general well being of racehorses and commonly utilized in racing stables. The NHA were never going to ban the use of steroids prior to the meetings initiated by trainers, who wanted a more uniform approach to be adopted when dealing with all drug classifications and the penalties attached thereto. The idea was that a more rational approach to fines around prohibited substances was imperative as ANY and ALL medication present in a horses system when presented for racing is illegal – including Antibiotics’.

Anabolic steroids are not illegal when prescribed by a veterinarian, and would be recommended by any practising vet if a horse was being rehabilitated after illness or life threatening surgery or bout of laminitis, which has a very high mortality rate in horses. Nitrotain is still the drug of choice in Australia today because it is the only steroid demonstrated to improve peripheral blood flow, vital for a successful rehabilitation in the case of laminitis and permitted in terms of the NHA rules in these type of circumstances when prescribed and administered by a vet.

I knew steroids had been banned from racing and it was purely an oversight that I did not do a thorough clean out of my medicine room post the introduction of this rule. I did not realize that this SIX YEAR OLD EMPTY EXPIRED PASTE TUBE was present in my cupboard. If I was cheating I would have been hiding it in an obscure place where it could never be found. This substance was not present in a sample taken from any horses in my stables either in or out of competition testing.

I have often been an outspoken critic of the NHA and believe that this amounted to nothing more than a witch hunt.  Under the circumstances I honestly believe that a reprimand would be the order of the day and was amazed at the severity of the penalty.

I have lodged a notice to appeal with the NHRA.

Paul Lafferty.

In the R3,85 million Emperor’s Palace Ready To Run Cup he has the second highest rated horses in the race, the 92 merit rated Go Deputy colt Pioneer Spirit, and also runs the 90 merit rated Brave Tin Soldier colt Iwo Jima.

Van Zyl said, “I was very happy with Pioneer Spirit’s preparation run over 1200m in which he came from off them and ran all the way to the line. He has come through his preparation very well and has been working well throughout the week. We respect Rich Girl, who has proven she’s top class, but we definitely feel we are in the race with a chance and expect him to be in the first three.”

He continued, “We would have appreciated a better draw for Iwo Jima, but I was happy with his prep in the same 1200m race as he finished well and also ran all the way to the line. He will prefer 1400m but will be even better suited to a mile as he is a half-brother to Smanjemanje. He will be doing his best work late and could finish in the money.”

Pioneer Spirit has stable jockey Keagan de Melo up from draw five and Iwo Jima will be ridden by Stuart Randolph from draw 13.

Van Zyl is bullish about the chances of his Gr 2 Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile runner No Worries (pictured) despite his wide draw. Upon hearing that the five-year-old Kahal gelding had opened at 20-1 said, “I think that must have been a printing error. They must have put a zero on the end of the two by mistake! He carried 63kg at Scottsville when needing the run in his penultimate and it didn’t bother him as he finished well, so the 59,5kg he has to carry on Saturday doesn’t frighten us. He has earned his merit rating and is getting better as he gets older. I would be disappointed if he doesn’t finish in the first three based on the way he has improved physically as an individual, on his trackwork and on the way he won last time. He is a horse who is on the up.”

De Melo rides from the widest draw of all in the 16 horse field.

The yard’s Go Deputy filly Kileigh finished like a train over the too sharp 1400m last time to record her third win on the trot and looks to be very promising. She runs in the Gr 3 Starling Stakes over 1400m from draw eleven with De Melo up.

Van Zyl said, “Majmu is the stand out horse and Kileigh wants further but there was nothing else that could be used as a prep for the Fillies Mile on Summer Cup day, so we are taking our chances. She is getting 2kg from Majmu, but that might not be enough over this trip and she has a wide draw too. But she is all heart, never gives up, so could find a place and is not out of it at all.”

Van Zyl is hoping the yard can start the day with a winner in race 2, the HSH Prince Charlene maiden plate over 1600m, with the Ideal World gelding Spekboom.  Ideal World’s appear to improve all the time and Van Zyl said, “He had a bad draw last time and despite running without cover still ran a very good race to run third, so he will be very competitive.”  De Melo is up from draw 8.

The yard might have their best runner of the day in race 4, a maiden over 1600m where they run two Fort Wood fillies, Withbatedbreath and Princess Milo.

Van Zyl said, “Withbatedbreath ran an excellent second on the poly last time considering she didn’t like the kickback and ran wide. She’s a very nice filly and is working well so from her good draw we expect her to take a lot of beating.  Princess Limo came all the way from last to run fourth last time. A bad draw doesn’t help here. However, with a bit of luck we expect her to be in the hunt.”

Withbatedbreath is drawn three with De Melo Up and Princess Milo is drawn widest of all in the 15 horse field with Marthinus Mienie aboard.

The yard run the Way West colt Out My Way in the last, a MR 72 handicap over 1160m, from draw eleven with De Melo up and Van Zyl said, “He was very impressive last time (when winning a maiden over 1200m on the inside track by 4,75 lengths), but this is a jump in class and we will have to see how he is going to perform.”

Picture: Nkosi Hlophe

Princess Charlene attended the meeting in 2012 but obviously won’t be there this year as she is currently expecting twins.

Princess Charlene’s father Michael Wittstock is an avid racing fan and also owns horses, some of them racing for the Monte Carlo syndicate (Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco).

The best horse he part-owns is the Glen Kotzen-trained six-time winner Albarakah.

Michael is responsible for bringing the association with the Princess to the Charity Mile raceday.

It was at the request of himself and his daughter that all of the nomination fee money for the two maiden plates be donated to the Horse Care Units.

The maiden plates were substantially over subscribed due to the prizemoney on offer so at R500 a nomination the total of 223 horses (102 for the 1160m event and 121 for the 1600m race) raked in R111,500 for the Horse Care Units.

Trainers and owners were biting their fingernails yesterday while awaiting the final field and draws, which were announced at about 15:30.

Picture: Princess Charlene of Monaco (EPA)

If the two reserve runners come out, one of them being her stable companion Thirtytwosquadron, she will come in one position.

However, she will likely need to be dropped out in order to see out the trip and as one with plenty of natural speed this is not going to be easy from a wide draw.

However, she has been in fine shape at Summerveld and put in a sterling bit of work yesterday, so her class could pull her through.

Anton Marcus aboard will also be an obvious bonus to her chances.

Rich Girl will depart Summerveld in the early hours of Saturday morning and arrive at Turffontein close to the race time.

The second highest-rated runner in the race is also a KZN horse, the Gavin van Zyl-trained merit rated 92 Go Deputy colt Pioneer Spirit, but he has been up in Johannesburg for a while already at Van Zyl’s satellite yard. He drew virtually ideally in barrier five.

There wasn’t much joy for Pinoeer Spirit’s 90-rated stablemate, the Brave Tin Soldier colt Iwo Jima, who drew 14.

The 91-rated Silvano filly Silver Class, who is from the stable of last year’s winning trainer Johan Janse van Vuuren, landed a tricky draw of nine. Her stable companion the Muhtafal filly Chilli Chocolate drew ten.

However, the improving 89-rated Mike de Kock-trained Judpot colt Dreamuponadream drew perfectly in four, while his pair of 88-rated stable companions, the Western Winter colt Lava Flow and the Ideal World gelding Kingmambo’s Legacy, both drew fairly well in six and seven respectively. De Kock also runs the promising 85-rated Kahal filly Kosava, who won by 4,5 lengths on debut, and she drew wide in 16.

The plum pole position draw went to the talented Duncan Howells-trained Mambo In Seattle colt Saratoga Dancer. He will be ridden by Sean Veale, who won the race two years ago on Rock Of Arts.

There are two horses from Cape Town in the field,  the Joey Ramsden-trained Captain Al colt Captain’s Orders, who drew 8, and the Brett Crawford-trained Dynasty filly Bella Espumante, who draw way out in 17.

Champion jockey S’manga Khumalo will be aboard the promising Sean Tarry-trained Teofilio filly Tamanee, who received a plum draw of three. Her stable companion Hyaku is the reserve runner.

The rest of the field is made up of Johannesburg horses, the Joey Soma-trained Trippi gelding Jock Silberstein (draw 2), the Gary Alexander-trained Admire Main colt The Elmo Effect (12) and the Mike Azzie-trained Elusive Fort filly Red Star (13).

He will join James Doyle (captain) and Adam Kirby of England, Martin Harley of Ireland, Germany’s Andreas Helfenbein and Selim Kaya of Turkey.

These six will compete against S’manga Khumalo (Captain), Piere Strydom, Richard Fourie, Muzi Yeni,  Anthony Delpech and Bernard Fayd’Herbe.

Rispoli rode in the 2010 Challenge and was the victor ladorum in the second leg at Kenilworth, where he rode one winner, a third, a fourth and an eighth place. However this was not enough to secure his team victory.

Rispoli set an Italian record of 245 winners in a season in 2009, breaking the record of 229 set in 1982 by Frankie Dettori’s father Gianfranco.

The 25-year-old made his race riding debut in 2005 with a second place on 5 February 2005 and waited just 14 days to taste his first victory.

He has had a few stints in Hong Kong where his biggest success was aboard Rulership in the 2012 Gr 1 QE II Cup.  He had eleven wins from 128 rides in Hong Kong last season and has been granted a license to ride there again during the winter from November 15 to January 15, so will likely be taking in the Jockeys Challenge on his way to the island nation.

Rispoli has ridden in France for the last three summers and autumns and had a Gr 1 win in each of 2012 and 2013. He rode in Japan in early 2011 and also recorded a Gr 1 victory there. He has had two Gr 1 victories in Italy.

Rispoli has also ridden in races in the UK and Mauritius.

Picture: HongKongJockeyClub