Prominent horse trainer Robert Smerdon was banned for life Thursday along with two stablehands over a major Australian doping scandal involving more than 100 races over several years. Two other trainers, Stuart Webb and Tony Vasil, were handed suspensions for three and four years respectively while three others got lighter punishments.
Smerdon and stablehand Greg Nelligan were found by a Racing Victoria investigation to be the masterminds of the scam, with all those involved linked to the Aquanita Racing stable. In one of Australia's biggest horse-racing controversies, the eight were convicted by the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board of an unprecedented 271 breaches of race-day rules between 2010-17. Most of the offences related to dosing horses with a banned mixture of sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda, which helps reduce the build-up of lactic acid and improves performance.