Feed contamination forces O'Brien to pull Arc runners

Horse owners competing horses across all disciplines were advised last Friday (2 October) not to feed Gain Equine Nutrition horse feeds after it was discovered some batches of the feed were contaminated.

In a statement released on Tuesday, Gain said: “We continue to ask our equine customers to refrain from feeding their current stock of Gain Equine products to their animals.”

The issue was uncovered after horses tested positive for Zilpaterol at France Galop. The containment is a synthetic beta-agonist approved for use as a performance-enhancer in some beef production systems outside of the EU.

Martin Ryan, Head of GAIN Equine said:“We apologise sincerely to our valued customers for the inconvenience caused by this incident and we are committed to promptly keeping you fully informed. A thorough investigation and trace back of all feed ingredient sources is underway as a matter of urgency to determine how this external contaminant could have found its way into some batches of our equine product.”

Integrity

Aidan and Joseph O’Brien are among a large number of Irish racehorse trainers who use Gain products, and it is understood they switched brands upon hearing the news on Friday. Aidan, Joseph and Donnacha O’Brien all withdrew their horses who were due to run in France over the weekend in order to protect the integrity of horse racing.

Gain released a second statement on Sunday, 4 October which said: “The team at Gain Equine Nutrition are hugely disappointed to learn that some of our customers have withdrawn their horses from important equine events this weekend, including the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe meeting in Paris.

“We are equally disappointed for all of our valued equine feed customers across Ireland, the UK, France and elsewhere who we advised on Friday to refrain from feeding our products until we fully investigated the source of potential contamination of our equine feed products.