Racecourses

Doping: trainer facing 10-year ban for feeding horse Monster Munch

Published

2 years ago

3rd July 2020

Trainer banned for giving horse Monster Munch

Trainer facing 10-year ban but protests innocence blaming horse’s addiction to pickled onion-flavoured snacks.

Trainer Alf Archer has blasted corruption charges as 'dogsh*t' after one of his horses returned a swab breaching allowable levels of Monster Munch.

Archer is facing charges of administering a prohibited substance and allowing a horse to compete with a banned substance in its system.

The Swadlincote trainer's gelding, Jimmy Jumpsuit returned a urine sample containing massive amounts of Disodium 5'-Ribonucleotidein – a key constituent of the popular foot-shaped crisps. Failing a random test after his sample exceeded the allowed threshold of 100 micrograms per litre, Jumpsuit cannot be entered for a race for the next 100 days.

But Archer says he is powerless to stop the wilful hurdler indulging in his favourite snacks.

Addict

But the Gravesend handler protested his innocence, claiming that ‘Jimmy’ is an addict: “Jimmy’s an awkward bastard: always lying and hiding pickled onion flavour Monster Munch in his hay net.

“He won’t eat carrots or polo mints like all his mates, he smashes up his barn if we don't get him Frazzles or Tangy Toms.

“If we don't buy him a sack of the stuff, he kicks the stable door and wakes up all the neighbours by whinnying through the night.

“He gets withdrawal symptoms and refuses to gallop, planting himself in the middle of the road when we come back from a morning trot.

The maximum penalty for the offence of giving a horse junk food, under British Horse Racing law is 3 days ban for a horse and an £800 fine to the trainer.

But, because of Alf’s past as a gambling stable - where he once landed a £30 bet in 1985 - if found guilty, Archer could be barred for twenty years.

A representative for The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) told the Scutter: “We take a tough stance on steroids, stimulants, gene-doping and now Monster Munch.

Jimmy Jumpsuit said: “My solicitor and I have been over the prohibited list and we’re lodging an appeal with the Theraputic Use Exemptions under the clause of ‘Intrinsic Sleep Disorder’ because I can’t rest until I’ve had my crisps!