The last thing on trainer Luke Oliver’s mind on August 3 last year was that his horse would test positive to the recreational drug ice.
Oliver was understandably preoccupied. His wife, Georgia Mccartney, was two days away from delivering their first child, Hazel Joan Oliver, into the world and was going into labour.
Luke Oliver’s horse Justdoit wins at Flemington on August 3, 2024, before later being disqualified.Credit: Getty Images
As a result, he was not on course at Flemington on what was a mild winter’s day when the stable’s mare Justdoit won the third race at the juicy odds of 12-1.
The Cranbourne trainer had arranged for his staff to take care of business, but still managed to text jockey Craig Williams pre-race to say the mare needed to win because he would soon have an “extra mouth to feed”.
So Oliver was shocked when approached by Racing Victoria stewards a month later and told Justdoit’s post-race urine sample revealed traces of methamphetamine, often referred to as crystal meth or ice.
Despite not being at his stables or at the track at the time of the positive swab, Oliver was charged with presentation – when a trainer’s horse tests positive to a prohibited substance at a race meeting.
Luke Oliver was fined $2000 after his horse tested positive to methamphetamines.Credit: Getty Images
He fronted the Victorian Racing Tribunal last month, pleaded guilty to the charge, and was fined $2000.
Justdoit was disqualified from the race, and stripped of the $70,000 first prizemoney.
But the source of the contamination has yet to be solved. Racing Victorian stewards are continuing their inquiries that involve a staff member’s suspicious urine sample.
Oliver initially suggested to stewards the positive could have been caused by a staff member putting a tongue tie on his horse – a lycra band that ties the horse’s tongue to the bottom jaw so that it does not get over the bit and cause breathing issues.
The practice requires a person to put their hands directly in the animal’s mouth.
The Victorian Racing Tribunal – consisting of judge Marilyn Harbison and magistrate Peter Reardon – heard last month that the staff member who attached the tongue tie to Justdoit and later assisted in taking it off had been a past drug user, but she denied ever using methamphetamines.
The tribunal also heard that the staff member initially avoided providing stewards with a urine sample when they interviewed Oliver at his stables on September 5.
“All his staff were directed to provide urine samples and did so, with the initial exception of the staff member who had previously used drugs, who left the stable knowing that the direction had been given but without giving the sample,” the tribunal wrote in its decision against Oliver.
“This staff member later contacted the stewards and agreed to provide a urine sample, saying that she had been too scared to give a sample when initially asked.
“However, she provided the sample in suspicious circumstances – that is, it appears likely that the urine sample which she gave at that time may have been a substitute sample and not a fresh sample.
“We do not know the result of that sampling, but it is fair to say that a question mark still hangs over the prospect of involvement by this staff member in the contamination.”
The tribunal found that Oliver, who trains 40 horses and employs 16 people, had no reason to suspect any of his staff were involved in drugs.
Trainer Luke Oliver poses after Justdoit won at Sandown Lakeside Racecourse in July 2024.Credit: Getty Images
“There is no evidence of him having had any concerns of this nature brought to his attention in the past,” the tribunal wrote.
“It is clear, that the particular employee who we have described in these reasons for decision took suspicious steps when challenged.
“We are told that this issue is still under investigation by the stewards.”
But the tribunal found that other employees had handled Justdoit on the day it tested positive, so the source of the contamination was not clear cut.
Craig Williams with Justdoit after winning at Flemington on August 3.Credit: Getty Images
The tribunal said it had not been provided with any scientific evidence to say a horse could be contaminated by oral ingestion via the application of a tongue tie.
“Given the circumstances, this tribunal has no sure way of ascertaining how the horse came to be contaminated and can reach no conclusion as to whether any particular staff member was implicated,” the tribunal wrote.
Oliver asked the tribunal not to impose a penalty against him because the investigation had affected him personally and financially as well as tarnishing his reputation.
But the tribunal ruled that such outcomes were reserved for “completely exceptional case”.
They also found that Oliver had not appeared to have “made any significant efforts to guard against drug contamination arising from his employees”.
“We have decided that the appropriate sentence should be at the lower range of sentences to which we were referred,” the tribunal panel wrote in its decision.
