Mullins faces appeal body in Be My Royal saga
The long-running saga surrounding the disqualification of 2002 Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup winner Be My Royal continues on Monday.
His trainer Willie Mullins will appear in front of the appeal board of the Jockey Club in a bid to overturn the verdict.
The horse was originally disqualified by the Jockey Club’s disciplinary panel at a two-day hearing in January.
They found the trainer to be in breach of Rule 53 after the horse failed a post-race drugs test for morphine.
A whole host of morphine positives were found around the time of Be My Royal’s victory and the source was later traced back to a contaminated food supply.
Since the prohibited substance was not administered intentionally, the trainer was not fined, but ordered to pay legal costs.
Be My Royal, though, was stripped of his victory in the Newbury race.
Mullins was disappointed with the decision as the Jockey Club had introduced a new cut-off point of 15 nanograms per millilitre in March 2003 following the outbreak of morphine contamination.
He immediately announced his decision to appeal against the ruling, claiming that any concentration of up to 15 nanograms could have no effect upon the performance of a horse and citing Jockey Club veterinary director Peter Webbon as backing that view.
He has already indicated that should next week’s appeal be unsuccessful, he could take the matter to the courts.
The hearing is expected to continue until Tuesday.
