Trainer Khalifa Al Neyadi has been fined AED40,000 (€9,278/£7,894) after two runners in his care returned levels of arsenic above the permitted threshold in post-race tests in March. Both horses-White Sky (Ire), a Thoroughbred, and Jayide Al Boraq (MA), a Purebred Arabian-were disqualified from their placings in the races in question. While Al Neyadi denied that either horse had had any recent medication or treatment, he pled guilty to presenting the horses to race with elevated levels of arsenic in their systems.
Al Neyadi exercised his right to have the reserve portion of each horse's urine tested, with both reserve samples also returning a positive. Five hay samples from Al Neyadi's stable were tested-one provided by Al Neyadi and four obtained by the Emirates Racing Authority. The sample provided by Al Neyadi was found to contain abnormal levels of arsenic, while the others did not; however, the abnormal levels were not deemed high enough to explain the positives.
Arsenic is a trace mineral found in nature and always present in the body, but elevated levels must enter the body through treatment or ingestion. Arsenic at very high levels can be toxic to the horse.
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