Mario Deslauriers has been exonerated of all blame for the doping positive to O-Desmethylvenlafaxine returned by Bardolina 2 at the FEI Nations Cup jumping final in Barcelona last fall. His groom is on this anti-depressant medication and admitted to urinating in the stable – claiming it was too far to walk to the bathroom.
Deslauriers, as is the norm, was provisionally suspended immediately after being notified of the sample results but he faces no further penalty as a result of today’s decision. However, Bardolina’s disqualification from the show remains.
The case was handled by negotiated settlement, rather than a full Tribunal hearing, so only limited information is available in the decision notice.
The FEI agreed the human contamination caused by the un-named groom accounted for the positive. It accepted Deslauriers’ expert statement that the dosage “within a reasonable degree of scientific certainty” could lead to the positive finding at the concentrations found.
The groom has worked for him five years, during which same period he has taken one tablet a day of prescribed Venlafaxine but never informed Deslauriers. Their horses had tested clean tested “numerous times.” The groom also said that urinating in the stable was “regular practice for most male grooms, riders and trainers.”
Suspensions and fines can be waived in a banned substances offence when the rider establishes he bears “No fault or negligence.” The FEI was satisfied Deslauriers had established how O-Desmethylvenlafaxine entered the horse’s system, and that the circumstances of the case are exceptional – he could not reasonably have known his groom urinated in the stables.
Deslauriers, 53, rode for the U.S. for many years before switching back to Canadian status.
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