Avanti Express was running in the two mile three a

Avanti Express was running in the two mile three and a half furlong HMS Exeter Novices Handicap, but in the last minutes before the start drifted out in the betting to become second favourite to eventual winner Give and Take.

‘They were realistically the only two fancied runners in the race,’ said Mr Whittam.

He said before the start there was greater confidence being shown in Give and Take.

Avanti Express had left trainer Charles Egerton’s Heads Farm Stables in Chaddleworth, Berks, earlier the same day accompanied by two stable lad, Michael McCabe and Joe Tuite.

Mr Whittam said the use of ACP at the stables was strictly recorded, and the drug had last been prescribed there two years earlier.

‘It will become clear the horse must have been doped at the race course, not at the stables.

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He revealed that the Crown ‘cannot exclude Tuite was involved in the doping.

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But he said a ‘window of opportunity’ for someone to dope the horse appears to have been five minutes after its arrival and a similar time around noon when the horse was unattended.

In the race, jockey Jamie Osborne – who had ridden Avanti Express in earlier races – found the horse would not respond.

‘It became clear to him something was wrong and was running below par,’ said counsel.

‘As other horses passed him, he decided to pull up.

‘Give and Take was no really challenged in the race and duly won.

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Messrs Egerton and Osborne had no explanation for the horses poor performance at a Stewards Inquiry.

‘Hardly surprising because the urine sample taken was not analysed until March 17, and that was found to contain ACP.

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The jury heard of the 7,500 horses tested annually, ACP was ‘rarely detected’.

It was used once in 1994 and in the two races being considered by the jury –
but was not discovered in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996.

Mr Whittam said all the defendants except Gill were at Exeter, Butler and Moore travelling with Matthews in his Mercedes.

He said Hodgson was caught on camera hanging around the security area where the horses were stabled and was twice spoke to by a guard.

He claimed he was waiting for another trainer to ask for a vacancy as a horse box driver – claiming he had just lost a job with champion trainer Martin Pipe, although checks later show he never worked for the Devon man.

The barrister said one bookmaker paid pnds stlng 2,250 to a ‘man in a blue coat’ allegedly one of the defendants who had staked pnds stlng 1,000 on Give and Take.

Butler bet the same horse with pnds stlng 500.

In addition Gill had backed pnds stlng 800 at 11 to 10 on the winner.

Although he was not at the meeting, he was in constant touch with Moore by telephone and pulled a spread bet at the last moment.

And despite travelling hundreds of miles, Mr Whittam said the four members of the alleged plot immediately left after collecting their winnings.

Lively Knight, trained by Josh Gifford, of Findon, West Sussex, and ridden by Leighton Aspel, was running in the Seeboard Novice Chase at Plumpton.

Clear favourite in the threehorse race, it had been forecast at 8-1 on but started at 7-1 on.

‘On the known form for that course it should not have got beaten.

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it should be the winning horse.

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Mr Whittam said Butler was the only one of the five at the course – but significantly it was Butler who had the syringes containing ACP at his home.

Lively Knight never managed to make a serious challenge, losing to eventual winner Stormhill Pilgrim by four lengths.

‘However, Lively Knight still managed to be Cruise Control despite having been doped, beating the other horse may indicate the form and odds would have been right.

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Mr Whittam said telephone records again show there was a great deal of contact between the five men before the race.

Matthews is said to have won pnds stlng 3,500 on a pnds stlng 400 bet on Stormhill Pilgrim, Gill backing it with a pnds stlng 100 stake.

In addition Gill had a number of combination bets on the winner and Cruise Control covering every outcome – but did not back the favourite in his forecasts.

Mr Whittam said when Butler was arrested he was quizzed over the syringes found at his home.

‘He said a friend used them to keep greyhounds quiet on the way over from Ireland,’ said Mr Whittam.

‘He said the man was called Ryan and was from Waterford or Cork but could not provide a telephone number or an address for his friend.

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But Butler refused to say how the syringes and needles came to be in a plastic bag from a chemist in Kilburn.

The trial continues.

ends