A familiar face was missing from the track at Governor’s Plate Week harness racing in Summerside, P.E.I., this week.
And according to Marc Campbell, a case of gout, the call of nature and a horse that will eat “everything and anything” are clues to what led to his being barred from the bike.
Campbell, a regular driver in both Summerside and Charlottetown, is serving a July 8 to 22 suspension, after a horse he trains and drives – Freddie – had a Class 4 positive test at Red Shores Racetrack and Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park from June 14.
Campbell represented P.E.I. in the Atlantic regional driving championship in Truro, on June 29. He got a call July 4 telling him he had a positive test for Probenecid.
“I had no idea what Probenecid was, and I had to look it up,” Campbell said. “After a day or two of trying to think and figure out what happened – because obviously I didn’t give my horse medication for gout – we figured out that the gentleman next door was on this particular drug.”
Freddie is stabled at their farm in Winsloe, P.E.I., Campbell said, and one night, with no stalls available in their main barn, he arranged for a stall next door. Other than “a mouthful of hay there or whatever,” Campbell said the stall looked clean.
“It turns out the gentleman next door who does the stalls over there was on a medication for gout,” Campbell said. “The medication is called Probenecid.”
A day after receiving the call regarding the positive test, Campbell applied for a stay, which would allow him to continue racing until an appeal was heard. He was denied.
“So Thursday night we got all the information from the hospital and had all the prescriptions and everything that this guy was on that drug at this time. He did admit to urinating in the stall, and said, ‘Well, the stall was empty.’
“You know what? Anybody around the track has peed in an empty stall.”
Despite evidence in his favour, Campbell’s request for a stay was again denied.
“I was desperately trying to get back for Lobster Carnival Week. I love the Governor’s Plate race.”
Campbell, who won the Plate in 2016 and 2017, feels he has a good defence.
“We have everything from the hospital, the dates the gentleman was on it, how much he was on it and we have a document from a veterinarian that it was very likely and possible that a horse could pick it up from eating hay with urine on it,” said Campbell. He added the drug Freddie tested positive for is not performance-enhancing in any way.
“The horse went in the stall, ate the hay or whatever is in there,” said Campbell. “My vet wrote up a letter stating that this is a great possibility. The horse was Freddie, and the bugger, he’ll eat everything and anything…”
Paul Hogan, director of racing for the Atlantic Provinces Harness Racing Commission, noted there are five classes of violations, and Freddie’s test was “on the lower end of the scale in terms of the classifications.”
The Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (CPMA) looks after post-race testing that is done at a lab in British Columbia.
“Sometimes it’s a quick turnaround, and sometimes it could be getting close to three weeks before the test results are finally received,” Hogan said.
The results of Freddie’s positive test were received the first week of July, after the suspect June 14 race.
“I’m not trying to take a dig at anybody,” Campbell said, “but this should have been out in the open more than it was. To me, the commission could have said, ‘OK, you have everything there, we’ll give you a stay, we’ll have your appeal, you get your case together, go race.’”
Campbell admitted it’s frustrating to miss the biggest week of harness racing in Summerside, and the $25,000 Governor’s Plate.
“It’s one of my favourite weeks of the year.”
Instead, he will attend a family wedding tonight, marking the first time in at least 20 years he will miss a Governor’s Plate.
– JASON SIMMONDS, SALTWIRE NETWORK-SUMMERSIDE JOURNAL PIONEER
