Champion trainer Peter Moody says he feels ‘vindicated that we’ve never cheated’ after the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board cleared him of the most serious cobalt charge in his long-running case on Wednesday morning.
Peter Moody –
While Moody was relieved to avoid a minimum three-year disqualification, the RAD Board did find him guilty of the secondary administration charge, but one that doesn’t carry the crippling mandatory penalties.
The key for this outcome is intent – while satisfied the stable caused the cobalt to be in Lidari’s system for the Turnbull Stakes in 2014, the RAD Board was not comfortably satisfied it was done for the purpose of affecting performance.
For that reason, Moody was cleared of the most serious charge but instead found guilty of the lesser one, administration of a prohibited substance.
The penalty will reflect that – but whether a suspension and/or fine is imposed, that won’t be known until the RAD Board sits to deliver the punishment at 2.15pm today.
While still disappointed with the result, Moody felt justified in his fight against the most serious charge.
“I feel, in a way, I’ve been vindicated that we’ve never cheated, we’ve never had to cheat, we’ve been a highly successful racing stable,” Moody said.
“Undoubtedly, some of our practices have been called into question and probably rightly so.
“That’s something I need to address and I didn’t try to hide that fact.
“Maybe I’d been too successful for too long for my own good and hadn’t looked at rectifying practices within my stable which probably wouldn’t have allowed this to happen.
“We didn’t administer cobalt knowingly, or purposefully for (the purpose of) changing the result of a race – we never have, never will.
“Hopefully we can keep on training winners, which we do very well.”
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