Naidoo found guilty.

Trainer guilty of drug charge

Racehorse trainer Cyril Naidoo's explanation that drugs found at his racing stables were solely for the animals was improbable, a full bench of judges said in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday.

The three judges also rejected Naidoo's complaint that the National Horse Racing Authority's board of enquiry, which investigated his conduct, consisted of three white men, which prejudiced him.

Judge Malcolm Wallis said: "The neutrality of a court or board of enquiry does not depend on the racial group of the members, but on their actual impartiality."

Naidoo had pleaded guilty before the board of enquiry to possessing drugs and its receipts, but not guilty to trying to mislead the board that the drugs were solely for treating brood mares, yearlings and weanlings on a farm at Queenstown.

Extraordinarily large amount of drugs

However, the owner of the stud farm told the board that Naidoo's explanation was not true.

Scientists also testified that he had acquired an extraordinarily large quantity of drugs and it was improbable that his explanation was true.

The board convicted him of the two charges, debarring him from premises under the control of the Horse Racing Authority.

In the Durban High Court, Naidoo challenged the two convictions and the enquiry board's warning him off all premises under the board's aegis.

This debarred him from all premises subject to the National Horse Racing Authority's control, effectively ending his career as a trainer.

Saga started in 2005

The Durban High Court upheld the two convictions but set aside the board's sanction of warning him off.

The Authority appealed against this setting aside of his warning off and the Pietermaritzburg High Court's full bench on Monday upheld the Authority's appeal.

Naidoo's saga with the board and courts started at the Vaal Race Course in October 2005 when one of his horses tested positive for the drug Ibuprofen.

The Racing Authority ordered his stables to be searched. The inordinate quantity of drugs and receipts for them were then found.

Naidoo had about 120 racing horses in training at the time.-SAPA

We buy because we love them . We pay owner to train them. We trust owner to look after them . And then we find out the horse was sick and passed on. Only to find out months down the line the horse was doped and had a negative reaction that killed it. He got what he deserved and still has much more to deal with for playing God with their lives to enrich himself.