Henderson hit with massive fine

Leading National Hunt trainer Nicky Henderson branded as 'harsh' the British Horseracing Authority's decision to stop him from making entries for three months.

Henderson learned of his fate on Friday morning, having last week been found guilty of using a prohibited substance on The Queen's Moonlit Path at Huntingdon in February.

He was also hit with a record-breaking £40,000 fine.

The 58-year-old handler faced a possible disqualification from the training ranks, but will instead be unable to run any of his horses from 11 July to 10 October.

The punishment handed out means Henderson can continue to employ his workforce, and that owners can keep their horses with them if they wish.

Henderson said: 'I am obviously hugely relieved that this saga has been concluded and, even though this seems a harsh sentence, we accept the findings and can now look forward again to the future and an exciting season ahead.

'As we are unable to have any runners for three months in our name, it is going to be all the more difficult to emulate last season's amazing results, but this will make us try even harder to do so.

'Although the medication should not have been administered, I can only re-iterate, as the panel has accepted, that it was only given in the interest of the welfare of Moonlit Path herself.

'The support that I and all the family and the team have received over the last very testing weeks has been quite overwhelming and, under the circumstances, so much appreciated.

'My owners, fellow trainers, both National Hunt and Flat, so many friends, everyday racegoers have given us so much encouragement and backing.

'I can only thank you all enormously and this includes my legal team.

'I simply cannot tell you how much it has meant to me and everybody at Seven Barrows.'

Moonlit Path is one of a number of horses, including this year's Cheltenham Gold Cup seventh Barbers Shop, Henderson trains for The Queen.

Mick Fitzgerald, who rode as stable jockey to Henderson for many years, backed the trainer to 'bounce back'.

Fitzgerald said: 'I'm just really pleased that he doesn't have to lose any staff and lay anybody off over this, and that is the thing Nicky will be most pleased about.

'Of course Nicky can bounce back from this because he is a strong person.

'He's an honourable man and he'll now get on with the job of training winners.'

Moonlit Path finished sixth in the TurfTV Mares' Novices' Hurdle on 19 February, after which she tested positive for tranexamic acid, an anti-bleeding drug, which contravened BHA Rule 200.

The race was won by stablemate Ravello Bay.

Henderson had admitted to three of the four charges he faced, but denied any wrongdoing in relation to Rule 200, which governs administering or attempting to administer a prohibited substance.

Henderson has always maintained the medication was used 'in the interests of the horse's welfare' - and not to improve performance.

The BHA's public relations officer Paul Struthers said: 'Breaches of Rule 200 are very serious, but what they have to take into account is the ways in which it can be breached.

'The treatment wasn't recorded in the horse's record-book and they concluded there was an attempt to hide the fact the horse had been given this substance.

'They concluded that the reason it was done was because they knew the horse shouldn't have been given it.

'They could have disqualified him - a trainer banned, can't train, can't go racing and can't be involved in racing - but what they did was take into account Nicky's previous record.

'They also factored in what the substance was. Contrary to what some people believe, the panel's view is that if a horse has a tendency to bleed, it (tranexamic acid) will stop it.'