Kavanagh denies paid vet in cobalt case

Victorian trainer Mark Kavanagh denies paying a vet $3000 for bottles of a substance called vitamin complex found to contain cobalt.

Dr Tom Brennan maintains Kavanagh and fellow Flemington trainer Danny O’Brien knew he was adding the vitamin complex to drips given to horses in their stables and they each paid $3000 for three bottles of it.

Kavanagh on Friday told his appeal against his three-year cobalt disqualification that he did not pay Brennan $3000 cash and he never saw the vitamin complex bottle.

Brennan did not tell stewards about the vitamin complex until July last year, six months after O’Brien and Kavanagh learned about their cobalt positives.

Kavanagh said he trialled an IV drip regime for delivering vitamins on Brennan’s suggestion but stopped it after a month as the horses did not seem to be going any better.

A bottle of vitamin complex Brennan sent to Kavanagh’s son, Sydney trainer Sam Kavanagh, was found to contain a high concentration of cobalt.