Maxime Livio banned for six months after his horse failed drugs test
French eventer Maxime Livio has been banned for six months after his horse failed a drugs test last year.
Qalao Des Mers tested positive for the sedative acepromazine (ACP) on the dressage day at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) held in Normandy last summer (29 August).
Last week (8 June), the FEI Tribunal issued its final decision involving Maxime and his ride Qalao Des Mers.
Last month (23 April), the FEI announced that the French eventing team had been disqualified from last year’s WEG — meaning they also lost their Olympic qualification spot — due to the positive test.
The team finished fourth at the event and qualified for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, but as the FEI Tribunal also disqualified the French team the country loses its Olympic qualifying slot.
Canada, which had finished seventh at WEG, moves up a place and qualifies for Rio.
But now a six-month suspension has now been issued, which came into effect yesterday.
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The horse has not been suspended so may compete under another rider.
Maxime has been fined CHF 2,500 (£1,760). He will also have to cover the B sample analysis costs and contribute towards the costs of the judicial procedure.
ACP is a controlled medication substance on the FEI prohibited substances list, meaning it is often used to treat horses, but it is not allowed in competition.
Last month a separate case involving Maxime was dropped by the FEI when the B sample from Bingo S, the borrowed horse ridden by Maxime at a showjumping event in Thailand last November, tested negative for testosterone.
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A graduate of Exeter University, Amy joined our news team from Redpin Publishing in 2008 as news writer. She was promoted to deputy news editor in May 2013 and became news editor in April 2015. She left Horse & Hound in March 2016 to take up an editorial position in Dubai.