Kembla Grange Trainer Handed Eight Month Ban

Kembla Grange trainer Diane Poidevin-Laine has been banned from training for eight months after one of her horses returned a positive drug test following a race.

The trainer was found to have brought filly Dane Empress to the races with a prohibited substance in her system.

The three-year-old was found to have elevated TCO2 levels, or an alkalising agent, in her blood during a routine test.

The finding occurred after Dane Empress ran seventh in the $14,000 Norm Lewis Handicap for fillies and mares at Kembla Grange.

Poidevin-Laine and her foreman husband, Carl Poidevin, both pleaded guilty to the charges.

The pair had previously been suspended for five months in April 2009 after one of their horses, Celtic Courage, returned a positive drug test.

The horse had the same elevated TCO2 readings as Dane Empress when it ran in the AJC Australian Oaks in 2009.

Both Poidevin-Laine and her husband will be unable to train for two-third of a year and have had their licences revoked from now until February 29, 2012.

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