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Aidan O’Brien has withdrawn all four of his horses from Sunday’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe due to concerns about contaminated feed.
The Irish trainer has removed Mogul, Japan, Serpentine and Sovereign from the Longchamp role, where they were due to face Enable, as John Gosden’s mare attempts to win the big race for an unprecedented third time.
However, none of the quartet will participate after it was learned late Saturday night that they tested positive for a prohibited substance, believed to be zilpaterol, possibly from food batches supplied by Gain Equine Nutrition. .
Derby winner Serpentine will not race in the Arch
On Friday, the supplier confirmed that it is “investigating the possible presence of a contaminant in some batches of our range of horse feed.”
O’Brien issued a statement via Ballydoyle Racing’s Twitter account on Saturday night saying: “Unfortunately, the results of urine samples taken from the horses yesterday came back positive in the French laboratory.
“There is a possibility that the contaminant has left your system by the time of tomorrow’s races, however, we have no guarantee of this and to protect the integrity of the races, we have decided to withdraw all of our horses from the races of tomorrow”.
O’Brien with Japan at Ballydoyle
“Joseph and Donnacha O’Brien will do the same.”
O’Brien’s two sons each had a top Group One contender because of Sunday’s race.
Donnacha’s Fancy Blue was declared at the Prix de l’Opera, while her older brother Joseph had Pretty Gorgeous at the Qatar Prix Marcel Boussac.
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