FEI Tribunal issues Final Decision

The FEI Tribunal has issued its Final Decision in a case involving two Prohibited Substances.

The case involves the horse Leslie O’Nil (FEI ID 105PA88/FRA), ridden by Ludovic Saroul (FEI ID 10014413/FRA). Samples taken from the horse at the CEI2* 120 in Al Ula (KSA) on 2 February 2019 tested positive for the Banned Substances Mephentermine and Oxetacaine.

In its Final Decision, the FEI Tribunal accepted the agreement reached between the FEI and the athlete. The FEI Tribunal took note that the FEI accepted that the athlete bore no significant fault or negligence for the rule violation, as he was able to establish how the Prohibited Substances entered the horse’s system.

As a result, the period of ineligibility was set at 18 months, starting from the date of the FEI Tribunal Final Decision (10 September 2020). The provisional suspension (effective from 11 March 2019) was credited against the full suspension, meaning that the athlete was ineligible until 10 September 2020.

The results of the athlete and horse at the event were disqualified and the athlete was ordered to pay a fine of CHF 1,500. Each of the parties will bear its own legal costs.

The FEI Tribunal Final Decision can be found here.

The parties can appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 21 days of receipt of the Final Decision.

Notes to Editors:

FEI Equine Prohibited Substances

The FEI Prohibited Substances List is divided into two sections: Controlled Medication and Banned Substances. Controlled Medication substances are those that are regularly used to treat horses, but which must have been cleared from the horse’s system by the time of competition. Banned (doping) Substances should never be found in the body of the horse and are prohibited at all times.

In the case of an adverse analytical finding (AAF) for a Banned Substance, the Person Responsible (PR) is automatically provisionally suspended from the date of notification (with the exception of certain cases involving a Prohibited Substance which is also a Specified Substance). The horse is provisionally suspended for two months.

Specified Substances

The FEI introduced the concept of Specified Substances in 2016. Specified Substances should not in any way be considered less important or less dangerous than other Prohibited Substances (i.e. whether Banned or Controlled). Rather, they are simply substances which are more likely to have been ingested by horses for a purpose other than the enhancement of sport performance, for example, through a contaminated food substance. Positive cases involving Specified Substances can be handled with a greater degree of flexibility within the structure of the FEI Regulations.

Information on all substances is available on the searchable FEI Equine Prohibited Substances Database.