WAGGA trainer Wayne Carroll has had his appeal against a $4000 fine upheld.
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Carroll successfully appealed a $4000 fine imposed on him when Salute Again returned a positive swab for a win at Murrumbidgee Turf Club in December.
Carroll was fined $4000 and Salute Again disqualified from the Wagga win after Mepivacaine was found in a post-race blood sample.
Carroll explained that the swab was the result of an anesthetic put into Salute Again by his vet prior to receiving a couple of stitches for a laceration at the top of his forehead eight days before the race.
But Carroll's case was vindicated when his appeal was upheld by the appeal panel in Sydney last month.
Carroll had the $4000 fine quashed after he successfully argued that the fine was unreasonable given he was looking after the welfare of the horse.
While Salute Again remains disqualified from the win, Carroll was pleased to have his $4000 fine thrown out.
"Absolutely. The thing about it, we employed our vet to treat our horse and it stayed in its system longer than it was supposed to," Carroll explained.
"Everyone knew that but no one, to me, wanted to believe it.
"We knew how it got there. It stayed in the system longer than it should have."
While Racing NSW was quick to publish the details of the initial hearing, there has been no sight of any announcement around the appeal verdict.
The report from the initial steward's inquiry was published within a couple of days of the hearing.
But now, more than three weeks post the second hearing there has been no follow up announcement of Carroll's appeal.
Racing NSW said earlier this month that they were waiting for the reasons for decision to be signed off by the appeal panel prior to 'anything being released' but that was on April 3.
Carroll however is happy purely to have his case vindicated.
Salute Again is in the paddock after his Country Championships campaign and will return to target softer tracks in the winter months.
