Sydney’s Premier Trainer Chris Waller will visit RacingNSW stewards today in relation to an enquiry that was opened after the stable returned 4 irregular swabs.
Waller known for his hands on approach and individual horse care theories was notified by stewards of the irregular swab and immediately went searching for answers. The Waller stable creates all their own horse feeds from scratch, Chris believes that feeding all horses the same feed is non-beneficial as all horses have different palates, some are better eaters than others, some horses suffer from muscle stiffness and high levels of lactic acid. As such different feeds for different horses can help improve these levels.
Chris has been using a special feed for many years for horses that suffer badly from “tying up”, it’s a feed that he believes allows horses to recover from hard runs and help reduce the lactic acid build up in their bodies.
Unfortunately it appears this is where the positive samples have come from, the stable are now aware that a batch of the feed supplied by their feed company had traces of Ibuprofen (nurofen) in it. As per the rules of racing horses are not allowed to have the drug in their system when racing,
Upon receiving the information from stewards in relation to the first horse returning a positive swab, the stable had no idea where it had come from. Chris believed it could have been the fault of a staff member using Nurofen with a trace still being on their hands when they went to mix the feeds. However after the second horse returned the same result the stable were quickly able to identify they were from the same stable block and had were both on the exact same feeding regime. Chris automatically knew that there was another 2 horses that had been to the races during that time whom had been on the same feed, unfortunately with samples coming back approximately 6 weeks after the first incident the stable subsequently knew these horses were affected but had no way of changing the outcome.
The stable immediately sent for the feed product to be tested and we have been advised by the Waller stable that the contamination appears to have come from the feed.
Chris has been training for 18 years now and has had only one previous irregular swab which was over 8 years ago to an anti-inflammatory treatment that was wrongly administered. The Waller stable runs well over 1000 horses per year and has achieved over 150 winners per year for the past few seasons, it is clear that Chris and his stable have an exceptional record.
Furthermore the stable has very strict guidelines for staff and feed manufacturers to follow considering the fact that the stable feeds 120 (Sydney & Melbourne) horse’s per day, which includes 3 feeds a day (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner) which then in turn equates to 131,400 feeds per year, the stable has had no previous issues.
Dynamic Syndications has complete and utter faith in the Chris Waller stable, Chris is a man of the uttermost integrity throughout our time of dealings with him and his stable. Dynamic Syndications are comfortable with our ongoing business relationship and looks forward to supporting the Chris Waller stable now and into the future.