INDUSTRY NOTICE IN RELATION TO RECENT MEDIA REPORTS
19 November 2025
Some industry participants may have seen articles recently published in The Sunday Telegraph and in the online edition of The Daily Telegraph (or Code Sports), on 9 and 10 November 2025.
Regrettably, those articles contained many factual errors.
HRNSW issues this notice to correct and clarify the 10 important matters set out below so that participants in the industry understand the true position.
1. The Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory (ARFL) certificate dated 31 July 2025 pictured in the articles reporting “high levels” of levamisole, was incorrect. A revised certificate was issued on 29 October 2025. It was obtained from an opened bottle of Fenbender 100 located by stewards at a stable inspection.
2. The manufacturer’s testing of a retained batch sample of the same product reported that no levamisole was present in the manufacturer’s retained sample of that product. Having received those initial results, HRNSW commenced an investigation, including analysis of an unopened container of Fenbender 100.
3. On 29 October 2025, the ARFL reissued the 31 July 2025 certificate and corrected that the “high levels” of levamisole were in fact “trace levels” of levamisole. The results of the investigation allowed HRNSW and stewards to be comfortably satisfied that there had been a sensitivity issue with the manufacturer’s testing, and there was an issue with the Fenbender 100 product, about which the industry needed to be warned.
4. The following day, on 30 October 2025, HRNSW published the notice to industry warning of the contamination issue.
5. In the time between the first ARFL certificate on 31 July 2025 to the Notice to Industry on 30 October 2025, HRNSW is unaware of any trainer presenting a horse to race with levamisole in its system.
6. HRNSW is unaware of any “innocent participants” who have been penalised in relation to “unmarked banned substances”.
7. No determined case to date has involved the product Fenbender 100.
8. Levamisole is not “also found in grass and soil”, as suggested in the articles. It has been found on soil and on a plant. It is a synthetic product.
9. As to the cases involving horses imported from New Zealand, further to paragraph 7 above, those cases did not involve the product Fenbender 100. The source of the levamisole in those cases was not positively established, including on appeal to the Racing Appeals Tribunal of New South Wales.
10. As to the disqualified person, Scott Wade, referred to in the articles:
a. Contrary to what is suggested by the articles, participants are not prohibited from speaking to Mr Wade generally, as a result of his disqualification. They are only prohibited from speaking to Mr Wade in respect of matters relating to harness racing. We direct participants’ attention to the terms of Australian Harness Racing Rule 259.
b. The articles omitted to report that Mr Wade’s evidence to the Racing Appeals Tribunal in his appeal was that he retired from being a firefighter for reasons that were unrelated to harness racing. The full decision may be read here. The relevant evidence is referred to at page 10.
c. Mr Wade is not serving a penalty of disqualification imposed by Mr Prentice alone. Mr Wade was first disqualified by a panel of stewards (including Mr Prentice). The HRNSW Appeals Panel determined that he should be disqualified in his appeal from the stewards’ decision. On appeal from the decision of the HRNSW Appeals Panel, the Racing Appeals Tribunal also determined that he should be disqualified. The decisions of the Appeals Panel and the Racing Appeals Tribunal can be accessed at the following hyperlinks:
ii. Racing Appeals Tribunal decision.
HRNSW will continue to work hard to protect the interests of all of its participants and the integrity of the sport in New South Wales.
Mr Buckman and Mr Prentice are pursuing their own legal rights in relation to the articles. Mr Buckman and Mr Prentice continue to have the complete confidence of HRNSW in their roles as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Integrity Officer, respectively.
Ken Brown AM
Chairman, Harness Racing NSW
and members of the Board of Harness Racing NSW
Adam Fairley
Doug Freeman
Yvonne Sampson
Shannon Durrant
HRNSW INDUSTRY NOTICE IN RELATION TO RECENT MEDIA REPORTS
