Racehorse sold to Grand National-winning trainer for £100,000 banned from running after failed drugs test

A RACEHORSE sold to a Grand National-winning trainer for £100,000 has been banned after failing a drugs test.

Lucinda Russell has returned Flemensface to Ireland after the shock drugs positive came to light – but only after she purchased him at the Cheltenham April sale.

Tattersalls stepped in to void the sale of the six-year-old, who was trained by Alan Ahern when winning a Knockanohill point.

He went on to win a bumper at Cork for Michael Griffin before heading to the sales ring to make a six-figure sum.

Shockingly, Ahern was aware of the positive test three weeks before Flemensface was sold.

Ahern was ultimately fined €1,250 and banned for six months by the IHRB.

Russell’s assistant trainer and partner Peter Scudamore told : “There are so many things that could have gone wrong since he arrived. Luckily they didn’t, but they could have.

“What would the ramifications have been if he had been injured? Or, worse, died? What would have happened if we’d been running him during the summer and he won three races? 

“It doesn’t give you a great deal of confidence in the Irish market. If somebody comes to me to say they want to buy a horse from Ireland but how are we going to stop this from happening again, I don’t know the answer.”

Russell posted a career-best tally of 71 winners last season, thanks in part to her stable star Corach Rambler.

He won the Ultima at the Cheltenham Festival before streaking clear to Grand National glory in April.

In the same month, Apple Away provided her with a fourth Grade 1 of her career.

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