Maitland trainer Brad Elder ready to challenge 10-month ban

Elder pleaded guilty at a hearing on Monday to three charges from Harness Racing NSW stewards of breaching national rule 190, which starts "a horse shall be presented for a race free of prohibited substances".

Lil Ripper tested positive for levamisole, a drug commonly used for the treatment of parasitic, viral and bacterial infections in cattle and sheep, three times late last year in post-race swabs. They came after she won her first two starts for Elder, at Newcastle on November 4 and 7, following her move from New Zealand. She raced three more times without winning before taking out a Waratah final at Menangle on December 10, after which she again returned a positive.

The disqualification for levamisole, a class 2 prohibited substance, is the latest of several for trainers nationwide. Prominent Sydney trainer KerryAnn Morris, whose team were regular winners at Newcastle, got six months in May for two levamisole positives.

Elder said he had no idea how levamisole got into Lil Ripper's system and officials found no evidence of the drug at his father Darren's property, where he also trained. He planned to take his case to the racing appeals tribunal and, if unsuccessful there, to the Supreme Court.

"I'm going to appeal the severity of it and maybe the whole charge," Elder said.

"I've been talking to some pretty good solicitors about it and we're going to take them on pretty hard. It's my livelihood and I'm not guilty.

"The level has got to be zero [for levamisole] but every time it won, the level was going down. It was 0.8, 0.4 then 0.2 nanograms per mill. So the last one was two one-millionths of a gram."

Elder, 25, was a rising star of the Hunter training ranks, after already establishing himself as a premiership-winning driver. He trained 13 winners from 44 starters last season after launching his career and had 23 from 167 this year, as well as 66 as a driver.

The disqualification, which also rules him out of driving, could force him to leave his parents' home, because he is not allowed on registered training properties while banned.

"They want me to put in submissions as to why I should be allowed to stay home by the 26^th," he said.

Regardless of the outcome, he said he would return to the training ranks.

Meanwhile, Singleton trainer Aaron Goadsby has accepted his loss at an appeal against the disqualification of two runners involved in a numbers mix-up at Newcastle on July 21.

Goadsby-trained Artistic Scott won after starting from the wrong barrier and while carrying the incorrect saddle cloth number following a mix-up with stablemate Kozacynski, which finished unplaced and was also disqualified. Goadsby's staff made the initial mistake, which officials failed to discover until after the race.

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