Wallace speaks on positive

Ben Wallace, who a few days ago became the eighth Ontario-based trainer to have one of his horses test positive for the Class 1 drug aminorex, has been quoted as saying he had given Tramisol, a sheep wormer, on that filly, the drug Dr David Goodrow has been saying he believes is being picked up by the testing procedures and confusing it with aminorex.

Wallace told Toronto’s The Globe And Mail that he has sent any medication, feed supplement or additive he had given to the filly Sweet Notion to an independent laboratory to see if anything produces an aminorex positive. Wallace said he had given the filly Tramisol because she had been ill in recent weeks.

“This case has got a big asterisk beside it. I want that asterisk fully explored,” said Wallace.

Wallace was also quoted as saying that until the first positive was announced in early February he had never even heard of aminorex. “It would be ludicrous for me to have used a Class 1 drug on an $8,000 claimer after I knew six other people had tested positive…I’ve got way too much on the table to worry about an $8,000 claimer at Flamboro Downs.”

Wallace said despite what has transpired, he remains steadfast in his belief that the industry needs to address the drug situation.

“Just because now I am caught up in this whirlwind, I’m not about to change my hat,” he said. “This game has cried out for something like this. If we had been so proactive 15 years ago, we wouldn’t be here now and the plethora of drugs that’s in the game would not be here.”

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