Creosote used in a stable years before a trainer moved in has been blamed after a top racehorse tested positive for arsenic.

Hell’s Kitchen, trained by Harry Fry, was found to have arsenic above the permitted level in his system after finishing fourth in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the 2019 Cheltenham Festival.

The case was cited as a “warning” to others at the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) disciplinary panel hearing on Monday (29 March), even though the trainer was cleared of any culpability.

The likely cause was found to be that the horse had chewed timber beams in his stable that had been treated with a CCA (chromated copper arsenate) wood preservative, which contains arsenic, prior to Mr Fry’s move to the yard in 2014. Mr Fry has since moved yards again, for unrelated reasons.

Arsenic was historically used in creosote timber treatments, before it was banned as an ingredient in the mid-2000s, and can “linger” for years. The BHA started testing for it at the start of 2019 and the hearing was told that while this is the first case to come before the disciplinary panel, it is “not the only case [the BHA] is aware of”.

Mr Fry’s barrister, Roderick Moore, explained that arsenic is a “ubiquitous” chemical element, meaning it is found naturally “all over the place” in soil, water and plants across the world.

The BHA tests to a threshold of 300ng/ml for this reason, and the amount found in Hell’s Kitchen’s urine sample was close to that (337ng/ml). The B-sample was also tested and confirmed the result.

Suspicions that timber in the horse’s stable could have led to the positive test were strengthened when tests, as part of an unannounced visit from BHA inspectors, found arsenic levels in that wood to be more than four times higher than the neighbouring box.

The panel heard that the wet winter meant the horse’s usual daily turnout paddock was unusable, so he was kept in, which they believed could have led to him to chew the beams.

Charlotte Davison, representing the BHA, told the panel there was nothing to suggest Mr Fry had used the wrong creosote.

During the unannounced visit, inspectors found that the wood preservative used by Mr Fry the previous year contained only “negligible amounts” of the element, not enough to result in a failed dope test. The horse and 11 others were tested as part of the unannounced BHA visit, all were negative, and other items in the yard, including feed and supplements, also showing “negligible levels”.

While it could not be said in absolute certainty that the wood in the stable was the definite source, both the BHA’s expert and the expert appointed by Mr Fry agreed it was the most likely cause.

Ms Davison added that the BHA has “no evidence to suggest” the timber in the horse’s stable was not the cause of the positive test.

There was also some discussion, during the hearing, about the debate surrounding possible contributing factor. These included the amount of contaminated wood the horse would have needed to eat — suggested to be around 100g, either in one go or over a number of days — and the possibility that arsenic levels within the timber itself may not be constant. There was also the question of whether the fact the sample was taken straight after the race, when the horse would have been dehydrated, may have had a bearing on the arsenic level in his samples.

Mr Moore told the hearing that Mr Fry had cooperated fully with the BHA, allowing “everything conceivable to be tested” and there was not a single suggestion that he could have done anything further in the way of clean sport.

“His is a state-of-the art training establishment and no stone is left unturned in preventing positive samples,” he said.

“Every known precaution is taken and whenever the BHA gives out advice for trainers to be aware of, that advice is taken on board by Mr Fry. There is, at the moment, no advice about treated timber as I and Mr Fry understand it.”

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The BHA had been looking to penalise the trainer until days before the hearing, but reconsidered after further discussions with Mr Fry’s legal team before Monday and accepted he was not at fault. The panel was of the same view, which meant he did not face any sanctions, other than disqualification from the race and the return of the £21,200 prize money.

“There is a warning here about the danger of treated wood, which will no doubt be recognised by others that may be in the same position,” said panel chairman, Brian Barker QC.

“This has been a difficult case for everybody, but it is a unique case and it will not be a precedent in future cases. Each case is taken on its own effects and own uniqueness.”

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Unowhatimeanharry has shown phenomenal form on the racecourse since joining Harry Fry. He won eight consecutive races for the Dorset trainer and last month triumphed in the Grade One Champion Stayers Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival.

However, the nine-year-old’s route into the top hurdling ranks was an unusual one. It was thanks to an advert in Horse & Hound as a four-year-old that the Sir Harry Lewis-sired gelding remained in training.

‘Harry’ was bred by Graham Smith, who is now heavily involved in showjumping with his wife Holly (née Gillott).

“I used to have a trainers’ licence and had Harry’s dam Red Nose Lady in training. I had a couple of wins over hurdles with her, so I thought I’d try and breed one from her,” Graham told H&H.

“I chose the stallion Sir Harry Lewis — he was recommended by Joss Hanbury [master of the Quorn] and had sired his Long Walk Hurdle winner, Mighty Man.”

At the time named simply ‘Harry’ after his sire, the youngster was broken in and cantered away at Graham’s yard before the former trainer decided to hand in his licence.

“There was no point keeping my licence for just one horse so I planned to sell him at the Doncaster sales. However, he was dismissed for being too small and I was told he looked more like a polo pony than a racehorse,” said Graham.

“So I put an advert in Horse & Hound, as I’d had luck previously selling horses through the magazine.

“A lady turned up and bought him as a 50th birthday present to herself and said she was going to put him in training with Helen Nelmes — she named him Unowhatimeanharry after boxer Frank Bruno’s famous punchline.”

The gelding ran, and won once, for Helen before making the move to Harry Fry (pictured below with the horse), who’d received a ‘for sale’ email from the horse’s owner at the time.

“When he was at Helen’s they always let me know when he was running, then he slightly disappeared off the radar,” continued Graham. “The next thing — eight months later — I see he’s running for Harry Fry and winning a lot.”

Harry Fry initially purchased the gelding for his racing club, however, the talented hurdler was bought by renowned National Hunt owner JP McManus in October last year and now runs in the famous green and gold silks.

“We did breed a full-brother to him but he unfortunately died before making it to the racecourse,” added Graham. “It’s unbelievable really — you breed your first one and it turns out to be that good, it just never happens.”

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Former Champion Hurdle winner Rock On Ruby has been retired.

The 10-year-old gelding, trained by Harry Fry, sustained a tendon injury after his win in the Coral Hurdle at Ascot on 21 November.

Harry broke the news about his “horse of a lifetime” on his website on 27 November.

“There were quite a few tears shed by our staff in the tack room this morning when I told them the news,” he said.

“No wonder, because he is a much loved character and a bit of an institution here at Seaborough.”

Rock On Ruby’s owners — The Festival Goers syndicate — have given the horse to Harry’s wife Ciara.

“She will ensure that he remains the elder statesman of the yard for the rest of his life,” he added.

“If he was a younger horse we might have considered treating the injury and bringing him back a year or more later.

“But he would be almost 12 by then, he does not owe us anything and it would not be fair on a horse who has taken us all to the highest peaks of jump racing.”

The horse, by Oscar, will have a break for the rest of the season and a “good summer holiday” before coming back into work next autumn.

There are plans for him to continue leading the string, which he has done for the past six years.

Winner of the 2012 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, while in training with Paul Nicholls, Rock On Ruby has had an impressive career.

Of his 27 starts under Rules, he notched up 12 wins, eight seconds, five thirds. Only once did he finish unplaced.

Rock On Ruby was bred by the O’Dwyer family, who live in Co. Tipperary, Ireland, and was sold at Doncaster sales for £23,000 as a three-year-old.

In his final race on 27 November, he was ridden for the first time by Barry Geraghty and was one of three winners from Harry’s yard that day.

“It is quite fitting that, like a true champion, he bows out at the top of his game,” Harry added.

“What a phenomenal athlete.”

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Some very exciting news to share this week in my blog — I have become an auntie and the Fry family has grown by one!

Ciara, my brother Harry’s fiancée (and assistant), gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Tuesday 25 November. It wont be a hard date to remember as my birthday is four days later!

She has been called Ruby after their stable star Rock On Ruby. A very fitting name and I think she might be going to Cheltenham this weekend to watch him in action!

So the Fry household has been in a state of high excitement for the past few weeks. I’m pretty sure she will be on a pony before she can walk that’s for sure!

In my last blog we were about to go visiting for the weekend with the Warwickshire Hunt. We had a fun day’s hunting and I was lucky enough to borrow a very cool coloured horse called Bally off my great friend Rosanna Sewell.

He is a slightly different model to what I am used to but I had great fun on him and we then had a fantastic evening at their hunt ball. This was the night after the eventer’s ball, so by the Sunday evening I was slightly struggling! I then had a week to recover before our local hunt ball, which conveniently fell on mine and my twin, Jamie’s birthday so it’s safe to say we celebrated in style.

Archie (Arise Cavalier) has done a couple more days hunting and has really impressed me every time he goes out, although he has begun to get slightly cocky thinking he knows what its all about, but that’s only to be expected.

He may do another day here or there but otherwise I will start to knuckle down with his winter dressage and showjumping training, along with Ruby (Rubabell Cruise).

Myrtle (In Vogue II) has now come in from her holiday to start work. She is looking very hairy and feeling extremely well so it’s great to be back on her.

Kitkat (Another Breakfast) is on walking exercise which I have to say is more scary than riding the three-year-old racehorses! He is beginning to find walking very tedious so likes to throw in a few extra shapes here and there to keep it exciting.

I had a fantastic day at Aintree last weekend where Harry had his first runner over the Grand National fences with Mendip Express running in the Becher Chase.

It was my first trip up to Liverpool and it was great to walk round the National course and see the fences up close. They are pretty daunting but it would be awesome to have a crack over them!

Mendip Express with champion point-to-oint jockey, Will Biddick, on board ran an amazing race to finish a close 2nd. He took a while to warm-up to the big fences but Will rode a cracking race getting him jumping and slowly creeping his way through the field. It was hugely exciting and I think I did enough jumping up and down and shouting for everyone there!

Rosie

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It’s been a busy few weeks, I’ve mainly been driving up and down the country, so I’ve spent plenty of quality time with my car.

However, as a total change to the norm, I took part in the Clydesdale race on Sunday (23 November) at Exeter, which was great fun.

It was the second year they’ve run it, and it drew in around 3,000 people— bigger than Haldon Gold Cup day I think.

I was riding the same horse as last year, my old mate Big Al (pictured in the red and yellow colours), and we finished third — again. The same horse, Tom Parker, won as last year. I reckon they had a chat among themselves.

Big Al was great — but third is clearly his position, he’s found it and he’s sticking with it. It’s great entertainment though, and there was a massive crowd who all seemed to be loving it.

Racing a Clydesdale is obviously very different to riding a thoroughbred — they’re much wider and slower for starters! But they were raring to go and as soon as the flag went they were off into canter. It was a bit like going back to Pony Club — I gave mine a couple of Pony Club kicks to get him going.

People kept asking what the going was like. It was soft, but on a horse that size it was pretty much good to firm — they made light weather of the ground with their massive feet.

It was a great atmosphere and some good light-hearted fun. All the jockeys and especially the horses enjoyed it too.

A cover star

There’s been some quality racing recently.

I’ve got a nice ride this weekend — Irving in the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle. He fell last time out at Wincanton but he’s been doing a lot of schooling and he doesn’t seem to be lacking any confidence, but we’ll see how he goes in the race. We’ve done as much homework as we can do with him, so we’re prepared but you don’t really know until you get there.

He was featured on the H&H cover with me on board couple of weeks ago for the National Hunt special (6 November) so it will be nice to be reunited with him.

I got a fair few phone calls about that, I’d always wanted to be a cover star…

Top class racing

I’ve had a couple of nice winners recently too — Jolly’s Cracked It has won twice at Ascot this month, which has been great. He’s trained by Harry Fry and is a really nice horse and definitely one for the future. I think he’ll be aimed at a Grade One Hurdle soon. He’s got bundles of potential.

Melodic Rendezvous — who I won my first Grade One on — was out at Haydock at the weekend, while I was riding at Ascot. It was weird not riding him and I was a bit disappointed with his run. The race was run on a flat course though, which isn’t ideal for him and he was taking on some strong horses including The New One. When you’re up against horses of that calibre you need everything in your favour. However, on a different day I think he’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

It was nice to see Willie Mullins bring his horses over from Ireland — it’s great for English racing as it makes it more competitive. Not so good for us as they win everything! Faugheen ran really well under Ruby Walsh at Ascot. So it was great to see them, but we don’t want to see them too often as they make life harder!

Enjoy the racing this weekend,

Nick

Main photograph courtesy of Malcolm Snelgrove

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It may be the off-season for eventing, but I thankfully have lots of other things to keep me entertained during the winter months.

Hunting and racing come high on that list. I took my five-year-old eventer Archie (Arise Cavalier) for his first couple of proper days hunting (pictured top out eventing earlier this year). I have certainly thrown him in the deep end by taking him out with the Blackmore and Sparkford Vale on a Saturday.

He has really impressed me with how he has taken to it. He’s behaved far better than I could have hoped for and seems to be really enjoying himself. He jumped his first hedges and felt really bold so this is going to be invaluable education for him. He will have a handful more days before Christmas.

I have been busy riding out for my brother (National Hunt trainer Harry) and the yard has been in very good form with the horses running really well.

They have had some good winners — most recently with a win at Cheltenham’s Open Meeting in the mare’s listed bumper with the lovely Bitofapuzzle with Noel Fehily on board.

I think the most proud owner lately, though, has been my mother who owns a half share in the exciting young horse Zulu Oscar. He won a novice hurdle race at Taunton last week with Ryan Mahon on board (pictured below). After his rather disappointing first start over hurdles, where he unshipped Noel Fehily at the first fence, this was a much more pleasing outing! Fingers crossed we have an exciting winter ahead with him.

I also had a very last minute trip over to Ireland for the Goresbridge Go For Gold Sale with Carolyne Ryan Bell. We booked our flights on Tuesday afternoon and flew out on the Wednesday. Nothing was purchased, but I have never been before so it was a great experience to see how it all works and to get to see and ride some lovely young horses.

I am off to the Eventer’s Ball at Newbury this Friday as well as hunting with the Warwickshire on Saturday and I’m attending their hunt ball the same evening, so I am definitely packing in as much social time as I can while we aren’t busy competing every weekend!

Rosie

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The 2014 eventing season is over and I had a fantastic weekend to round it off at my local event, Aldon, in the CCI* with Ruby (Rubabell Cruise – pictured). I won this class six years ago on our homebred Bankon Louie so it’s an event very close to my heart.

Ruby had a really good prep run at Larkhill in the novice producing a lovely double clear to finish fifth, so I was confident that we would be able to be competitive.

She did a good test to score 52.5, marred by a big mistake in her counter canter, but overall I was really pleased with how she went. She only did her first dressage test in July and there is so much more to come from her. This had us in =16th going into the cross-country.

It was a really nice track with perfect going and the time turned out to be very achievable, with quite a few of us coming home way inside it. Ruby was foot perfect all the way round and made it feel easy. She was so confident and seemed to really enjoy herself giving me a great spin. This bumped us up into 12th overnight.

She came out and jumped a beautiful clear in the showjumping on Sunday. I couldn’t have asked any more from her and she pulled up to finish in seventh place, a fantastic result for her first three-day and after only four months eventing. She has clocked up some really impressive results in a short space of time and is a very exciting prospect for the future.

I also won the fantastic George Pinney Memorial Trophy for being the highest placed local rider associated with the Cattistock Pony Club or Cattistock Hunt. This is a really special trophy to win and quite a centrepiece!

The season has had its highs and lows with the main low having my top horse Kitkat (Another Breakfast) side-lined since June, but we are confident he will be back for next season. Having not had any young horses to bring on whilst I was away at university, due to time constraints, I have really enjoyed producing them this year and all the challenges and the satisfaction that comes with it.

Even though the eventing is now over there will not be much time for any rest as I will be riding out for my brother, National Hunt trainer Harry, all winter whilst fitting in as much hunting as I can. Archie (Arise Cavalier) is going out for his first proper day on Saturday so he better behave himself and not embarrass me by bucking me off!

Rosie

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On paper it doesn’t look like we had a very good day at Bicton Horse Trials last weekend, but there were lots of positives to take away.

Archie (Arise Cavalier) and Skippy (Abakala Flagmount) posted personal bests in the dressage in their novices. Archie did a very grown up test to lead his section on a 27 and earn himself some lovely comments from the judge. Skippy did his usual consistent work to score a 31.

Ruby (Rubabell Cruise) got rather unsettled by the flies so was a bit distracted in her novice test which was a shame as she still did some good work. Myrtle (In Vogue II) (pictured below earlier this year) was in the intermediate and she too did her best test to date at this level to score 28.6.

They all showjumped well, with clears for Ruby and Myrtle plus a pole for Archie, but sadly Skippy went a bit green and spooky so had a couple of unlucky rails.

The cross-country courses were quite stiff and all three

novice horses are still green at this level so it was quite a test for them. Sadly Ruby and Skippy picked up an unfortunate 20 penalties each. Skippy was caught out by the tricky coffin combination, which is also where Archie took a dislike to the ditch. He then went very babyish so I was unable to get him back anywhere near the fence, meaning that was the end of his cross-country round. We took him back to school there this week and sorted out his little problem.

Myrtle’s round came to an end when she misunderstood a skinny, and with no alternative to take, I decided to retire her to save her for another day and prevent an issue arising. This was a shame as it would have been a really educational course for her to complete.

A frustrating day, but you have to take the good bits out of it and remember that with horses one day you are up and the next you are down!

Things are very much all go at the moment as I have started riding out for my brother, the National Hunt trainer, Harry Fry, a couple of mornings a week again now that the racehorses are all back in after their summer break. There are lots of new youngsters to school, so it’s exciting to be back and getting the horses all geared up for the winter National Hunt season.

I’m also off for my first morning’s autumn hunting this weekend, as well as taking part in the Bicton Charity Challenge, a relay competition with eventers, jockeys and show jumpers going head-to-head in aid of the Injured Jockeys Fund. It was great fun last year and for a fantastic cause, so please come down and support.

Myrtle and Archie head to Wellington Horse Trials on Sunday. Archie is dropping back down to BE100 level to give him a confidence-boosting run and Myrtle is in the intermediate. It’s an action-packed weekend ahead so fingers crossed we have a good one.

Rosie

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Groom Ciara O’Connor tells H&H about the 2012 Champion Hurdle winner.

Fact file

Stable name: Ruby

Age: seven

Breed: thoroughbred

Sire: Oscar

Dam: Stony View

Discipline: NH racing

Trainer: Harry Fry (and previously Paul Nicholls)

Owners: the Festival Goers

Groom: Ciara O’Connor

Best Result: winner of the 2012 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham

Five things you didn’t know…

1 He was bred by the O’Dwyer family, who live in Co Tipperary, Ireland.

2 Richard Barber bought him at the Doncaster stores sales as a three-year-old, for £23,000.

3 He loves Cheltenham because he prefers to run left-handed.

4 The “Ruby” part of his name is not actually after Ruby Walsh, as many people assume. It is a reference to a ladies’ clothes shop owned by Lynn Hunt, one of his owners.

5 Whenever he licks anyone, he strangely uses the underside of his tongue.

To read the full interview with Ciara O’Connor about Rock On Ruby see 25 October issue of H&H

Read all the latest racing news

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