At the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic press conference held in Prague on January 19th, the trainer and the owner of Nikas issued the following press releases.

Press release of trainer Stanislav Popelka, from 19. 1. 2016

The announcement of the results of the urine samples for Nikas and Čáriray, horses which I train, was totally unexpected and very stressful. After the great joy of winning the Velka Pardubicka the situation was totally reversed, degrading within one moment not only my training success of a lifetime but in addition all the efforts, the honesty and the hard work put in by all of us. 

Since I was not and still am not aware of any mistakes or any negligence in the preparation of my horses, it has been and it remains of utmost importance to me to investigate all possible channels which could have led to the presence of banned substances in the urine of the horses in my care. As food contamination seemed to be the most likely source, I had selected samples of the feed batches of our suppliers analyzed, on the basis of the recommendation of experts. The results indicated that that there was a fault on the part of the company Troubecká hospodářská a.s., because the declared list of ingredients did not contain any ingredient that would lead to the assumption that there was a content of theobromine and caffeine.

I gave this feedstuff to the horses that were tested in good faith as a food supplement, and I relied on the guaranteed content and values provided by the supplier. Although they are far from being typical doping substances, and experts themselves have declared that caffeine and theobromine cannot affect the performance of a horse in a race, I respect and must respect that their names appear on the list of banned substances. I have therefore decided to take legal steps that will obtain at least partial satisfaction for myself and for my team, and that will eliminate such situations in the future.

For myself, I hereby declare that I have done nothing wrong. Errors by the suppliers have deprived me of two major wins and of my good name as an honest trainer, which is my greatest cause for regret. In my opinion, doping is dishonorable and in contradiction with horseracing as a sport.

This is all that I want to say at this time about this matter, and I will not today answer any questions or make any further comments. Thank you for your understanding.

Stanislav Popelka
 
Press release of Petr Kupka, owner of Nikas, from 19. 1. 2016

I would like to tell all of you that it was a difficult decision for me to come here today and to appear in front of you. However, I was inspired in this by my horse, my Nikas. I am here today on behalf of him.

In my lifetime, I have owned three horses, Mr. Risk, Tedd and Nikas. The first two of them died in racing accidents. Nikas won the Velka Pardubicka, and before that he won the Gold Brooch for 3-y-o hurdlers, was 2nd in the Velka Pardubicka, and won the Labe Stakes and a Velka Pardubicka qualification race.

Since I know Nikas’ character and I knew that he would be suited by the evironment at Hvozd with trainer Stanislav Popelka, I did not hesitate for a moment to entrust Nikas to the trainer. This was my best decision, and until today I continue to say so, and I would not change my decision, even if I  could, after all I have been through and will continue to go through.

I was happy about Nikas’ success and proud of it, and about the success of everyone who created the environment and the conditions for the horse to achieve this success. However, I am not able to express in words what I felt when I first found out the results of the samples, and I am not able to express what I feel today.

I confirm what the trainer of Nikas has said. I was and I remain shocked. I too am determined to take legal steps for reparations for the damage done to me by the actions of the company Troubecká hospodářská, a.s.

For me, Nikas is and will remain the winner of the Velka Pardubicka, in a record time, and a horse that I will respect for all of my life for his stamina and his fighting spirit. This is one of the reasons why I have decided to pay him back in the same coin. It is now up to me. 

I do not want to say any more on this matter today, and I will not answer any further questions. I hope that all fans of horseracing and all journalists here today will show understanding, and I thank them for that.

Petr Kupka