The FEI Tribunal has issued Final Decisions in two cases involving the prohibited substance Demecolcine after hearing that the presence of this substance can be the result of contamination due to the ingestion of the flower Colchicum Autumnale, commonly known as autumn crocus.
These cases involve the horses Inception 2 (FEI ID 105CF31) ridden by German athlete Felix Etzel (FEI ID10031843) at the CCI1* in Wiener Neustadt, Milak (AUT) and Finest Quality V&K (FEI ID 105DG03) ridden by Lebanese athlete Emile Karim Fares (FEI ID 10005907) at the CSI3* in Eindhoven (NED). Samples were taken from both horses in May 2017.
Demecolcine, which was previously a Banned Substance* on the FEI Equine Prohibited Substances List, was reclassified as a Specified Substances** on 1 January 2018. There is no known use for Demecolcine in veterinary medicine and the alkaloids of the autumn crocus are all highly toxic.
The athletes were able to prove to the FEI Tribunal that the substance had entered the horses’ systems through ingesting hay that had been contaminated by autumn crocus.
The athletes also established that they bore no fault or negligence for the rule violation and, as a result, the Tribunal ruled that no further sanctions should be imposed, other than the automatic disqualification of the horse and athlete from the competitions.
The athletes have 21 days to appeal these decisions to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) from the date of notification, 20 July 2018.
Further details on these cases can be found here.Responsible (PR) is automatically provisionally suspended from the date of notification. The horse is suspended for two months.