As was reported here in mid-December, http://www.dostihovy-svet.cz/cs/node/7743, Ludvík Haris, our champion trainer for 2018, had his trainer’s licence withdrawn for one year by the Disciplinary Commission because he was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the presence of a banned substance, Ritalin, in a blood sample taken from one of the horses in his care during a routine inspection. Ludvík Haris appealed against the verdict, and has now had his ban replaced by a suspended sentence.

On February 18^th, the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic published the minutes of the session of the Horseracing Court on the previous Tuesday, in which the Court dealt with the appeal of Ludvík Haris, champion trainer on the flat in 2017, against the verdict of the Disciplinary Commission which, after the positive doping test on the horse Lagaro [winner of the Czech 2000 Guineas in 2016] taken at the training centre of Lagaro’s trainer Ludvík Haris, imposed a punishment on the trainer of the unconditional withdrawal of his trainer’s licence for a period of ten months. According to the notification issued by the Jockey Club of the Czech Republic, the Horseracing Court confirmed the punishment of a fine of CzK 10 000, the withdrawal of his trainer’s licence for a period of six months, suspended for a period of one year, and the requirement to pay the costs connected with taking the blood sample, transporting it and carrying out the tests.

For the horse’s owner, Rostislav Kopecký, the affair remains unclosed, since there is an ongoing police investigation into the doping. The owner of the Darhorse stable welcomed the outcome, since it enables his trainer to resume his work in the near future. Rostislav Kopecký comments “We will not be able to express our views on the affair until the results of the investigation by the criminal police are known. It is of course important for us that the training centre can now continue in its work in the direction that had been envisaged.”

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This article, by Petr Guth, first appeared in the Czech-language pages of Dostihový svět on February 19th, 2018.