Danny O’Brien continues to give evidence at VCAT

Trainer Danny O’Brien has described Racing Victoria as unethical in its handling of information regarding his cobalt case.

O’Brien told the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday he had received a show cause notice on a Friday last year at 5.23 pm yet two television channels led their 6pm bulletins with news that he, Mark Kavanagh, Peter Moody and Lee and Shannon Hope were possibly going to be stood down from training until their cobalt charges were heard.

An emotional O’Brien said he and his wife Nina had tried to shield their children from the coverage of the cobalt saga.

Unfortunately one son had seen a news broadcast at a friend’s home and asked if his father was going to jail.

O’Brien said his response to the notification of the impending show cause hearing was to email and send a voice message to his clients and that he would fight the notice.

Earlier on Tuesday, O’Brien told VCAT which is hearing his and Mark Kavanagh’s respective four and three-year disqualifications that it was RV board member now chairman David Moodie who told then trainer Peter Moody of the O’Brien and Kavanagh cobalt positives before they had been informed by stewards.

O’Brien said he received a phone call from Peter Moody who the day before found out about his own high cobalt reading.

When RV stewards were at Mark Kavanagh’s stables in January last year informing him of his cobalt results, O’Brien received the call from Moody.

He said Moody had rung to let O’Brien know of a similar rumour that he also had a high cobalt reading.

“I’ve since asked him (Moody) where it came from. It came from (RV) Board member David Moodie who is now the Racing Victoria chairman,” O’Brien said.

The hearing continues on Wednesday with O’Brien still giving evidence.

VCAT has added three more days in October and November for the trainers’appeals.