Dyna Forte And Graeme Bate In SA Derby Drug Shock

Written By Kevin Pitstock, Editor & Australian Greyhound Racing Expert Contributor Friday 6th November 2009  

Australian Racing Greyhound can reveal that Dyna Forte, the winner of the $22,000 to the winner Group 3 2009 SA Derby; has returned a swab irregularity on preliminary testing of a swab sample taken from the night of the Derby win.

Dyna Forte is trained by leading Victorian greyhound trainer Graeme Bate who has been enjoying a spectacular run of feature race successes and track records in recent weeks. In fact the night Dyna Forte won the SA Derby, Bate was in Victoria watching Amity Bale win the Group 2 Sir John Dillon Memorial at Sandown. Dyna Forte was sent to South Australia in the care of Bate’s kennel foreman, Rob Camilleri.

As a matter of routine practice the first three placegetters of the SA Derby were all subjected to urinary swab analysis and a GRSA spokesperson has confirmed that both second placegetter Beer Time trained by Shaun Matcott and third placed Dentax Bale, also trained by Bate; have returned negative swabs.

A GRSA spokesperson would not confirm what drug Dyna Forte had swabbed positive too in the first analysis, and would not make any official comment until the results of the secondary sample testing confirmed the finding.

That finding is expected to be made public by GRSA Chief Stewards Paul Marks sometime next week, but regardless of the finding in the second sample, Bate looks destined to face a GRSA Stewards Inquiry.

If Dyne Forte’s positive swab is made official it will be just the first positive sample from a group race winner since El Galo and Jason Thompson lost the Group 1 2008 Topgun due to a positive swab.

In 2002 Bate was famously handed an eighteen month disqualification after one of this greyhounds tested positive to Morphine. Bate subsequently had the sentence reduced to three months on appeal, after arguing the positive finding was the result of feeding bread that contained poppy seed to his greyhounds.

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Amity Bale, Beer Time, Dentax Bale, Dyna Forte, El Galo, Graeme Bate, GRSA, Jason Thompson, Morphine, Positive Swabs, SA Derby, Shaun Matcott, Sir John Dillon Memorial, Stewards, Stewards Inquiries, Topgun

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