Leading Mornington trainer Mark Riley is facing a three-year ban from racing after being found guilty of administering one of his horses with a prohibited substance.
Riley was charged with the offence last October after Gold For Kev returned a positive sample on a race day at Sandown in July that indicated he had an elevated bicarbonate level.
The Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board found that Riley, who pleaded not guilty to administering alkalinising agents to the gelding by way of stomach tubing, unsatisfactorily defended the charge and accused him of being an unreliable witness throughout the process.
"Many of Mark Riley's responses to questioning by stewards and cross-examination in the hearing before the board were characterised by ambivalence, equivocation, obfuscation and prevarication," the board's finding read.
"Riley's evidence that he would not have had the time to stomach tube the horse was contradictory and unpersuasive. Similarly, his evidence that horses in his stable were not stomach tubed between June 2 and July 15, 2014 did not survive cross-examination intact.
"The board, being comfortably satisfied that the prohibited substance was administered on race day by Mark Riley or a member of his staff, on his instructions, is comfortably satisfied to draw the inference that Riley's purpose was to affect the performance of Gold for Kev in the race."
A date is yet to be set for Riley's penalty but if he can't provide mitigating circumstances, he looks set for a severe punishment.
