Sue Hearn and Remmington at Rio 2016.

© Arnd Bronkhorst

By Andrew Hearn

This is what I can tell you! It may answer some questions, it may raise others.

Remmington has never been administered Meloxicam by any of the Hearn Crew ever! There has never been any need for this medication as Remmington has been totally sound throughout his G.P. Career. It has never been used in our stables at home in Australia or in Europe to the lead up to Rio.

Other Members of the Australian squad were known to be using Meloxicam prior to the qualifying events. It is not illegal to use it although it does need to be declared.

I am still finding out the quantity of Meloxicam in the horses system and how long prior to the test that the medication was put into his system. I believe if it was a minute amount it may have been cross contamination from other horses in the stables at Rotterdam, or if there was a substantial amount then something more sinister may have occurred.

It was interesting that the FEI took close to 7 weeks to return the positive test, where I would have expected it back in 7 - 10 days after testing at Rotterdam.

Sue and Remmington had arrived in Rio prior to the FEI sanction being announced. She was told to sign off and accept the fine if she wanted to compete in the Olympics. She signed that she was responsible for the horse and what was in the horse, not that she administered the medication. If she didn't sign she was simply not allowed to compete. There was no time to get the B Sample tested prior to the event so therefore there this was not questioned.

Throughout the qualifying events at Odense and Rotterdam, members of the EA including the team vet spent a lot of time with the Aussie horses and riders and were well aware that Remmington was one of the soundest horses on the Australian squad that were at the events therefor there was no need for this medication to be used, this is why they believed that Sue had not administered the substance and therefore went to the AOC to support her case to ride at Rio. The AOC also believed that this was the case and allowed her to ride.

Remmington was always extremely strong throughout the trot ups and vet inspections and was blood tested numerous times during the qualifiers and lead up to the Olympics. He had a very clean record.

Sue is an extremely experienced dressage rider having trained numerous horses to GP and has been reserve for Sydney and Athens Olympics. She has always known the rules regarding what medications are, and what are not allowed, as well as what needed to be declared. There is no way that she would knowingly have put herself in this position at any time let alone this close to the Olympic Games.

Due to block out laws, we were expressly asked not to say anything publicly until after the games were over. The whole Hearn team are absolutely devastated because of this issue and are still trying to deal with the consequences.

Equestrian Life understands that the results of the blood analysis could be available within the next 24 hours. An update will be provided as information becomes available.

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