TRAINERS Mark Kavanagh and Danny O’Brien have been fined $ 4000 and $ 8000 respectively at the end of the long-running cobalt case.
Justice Garde of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal delivered his decision on penalty on Tuesday after the two were originally disqualified by racing authorities for the administration of cobalt to horses in their care.
VCAT overturned the bans and Racing Victoria took the case to the Court Of Appeal which agreed they should be penalised for presentation but that neither had knowledge of administration.
O’Brien, speaking on behalf of Kavanagh and himself, said litigation for the pair hadn’t finished as they were taking civil action against Flemington Equine for considerable damages.
O’Brien said they would also apply for maximum costs at VCAT against RV when they were awarded next month. “We were exonerated on March 17 last year so we’ve known we’ve been in the clear since then,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said RV had cost itself a lot of money in the case. “We would have pleaded guilty to presentation straight up. Instead we spent 26 days in court clearing our name,” he said.
