FEI Drops High Profile (UAE) Steroids Case After Two-Year Legal Wrangle

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The FEI has dropped a steroids case against a top UAE endurance trainer Ali Khalfan al Jahouri, after a two-year legal battle. Find out why.

By: Pippa Cuckson | November 20 2019

The FEI has dropped a steroids case against a top endurance trainer after two years of wrangling over a legal point that potentially exposed the FEI to a damages claim.

Ali Khalfan al Jahouri, 44, long-time trainer at Al Wathba stables in Abu Dhabi, had been scheduled to appear before the FEI’s independent Tribunal in January 2019. Three endurance horses in his care – the former President’s Cup winner 8 Minute, plus HLP Gadafi and JLB Noche – tested positive to various banned substances at the end of 2017.

Under the Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Regulations (EADCMRs) the “Person or Persons Responsible” are strictly liable for the presence of a banned substance in a horse, even if someone else admits fault.

8 Minute had tested positive to three steroids, nandrolene, stanozolol and EA-ESTRANE-3B,17A-DIOL and Al Jahouri might normally have faced two years suspension.

But the 8 Minute case alone was prosecuted under the clause of EADCMRs Article 2.2, which covers “Use or Attempted Use of a Banned Substance or a Banned Method.” Proof of “intent” is required in an “attempted use” charge; after Al Jahouri produced witness statements about management practices at Al Wathba FEI legal conceded there was “insufficient evidence that Mr Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri was actually involved in the doping violation or used Nandrolone on the horse in this specific case” and dropped the 8 Minute charges...

Read more here:
https://horsesport.com/horse-news/fei-drops-high-profile-steroids-case-two-year-legal-wrangle/