An international police investigation has been launched into the theft of the B sample from Cian O'Connor's Olympic gold medal horse Waterford Crystal.
British police in Cambridgeshire are working alongside Swiss and French investigators following the disappearance of the urine sample when it was en route to the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory (HFL) in Newmarket.
The sample had been sent by courier from the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) central testing laboratory in Paris to the HFL for confirmatory analysis when it was taken on October 21st. Although rumours of its disappearance were rife last week, confirmation of the theft only came yesterday afternoon in a statement from the international federation.
The FEI statement declared that a "portion of the B sample" had been "illegally taken" in Cambridge, but a Cambridgeshire police spokesman yesterday confirmed that it was a urine sample. It is believed that blood samples from Waterford Crystal are still at the FEI laboratory in Paris, where the positive result on the A sample was first confirmed last month.
Mr Steve Maynard, director of the HFL's drug surveillance group, confirmed that the sample had never arrived at the Newmarket laboratory. "We never actually had possession of the sample," he said yesterday. "It never arrived at HFL."
In a further twist, Cian O'Connor's solicitor, Mr Andrew Coonan, last night revealed he had received a copy yesterday of a letter from the FEI's secretary general, Dr Bo Helander, to Yves Bonnaire, head of the Paris laboratory. The letter, dated November 1st, requested that Waterford Crystal's samples be sent to Hong Kong as soon as possible.
"I don't know what samples he's talking about, whether it's a third sample or what, but at this stage I want some facts," Mr Coonan said last night. "The disinformation that's going on here is unbelievable. They tell me on the 23rd that they're sending the sample to Hong Kong, they tell me on the 29th that it's gone to Hong Kong and then they tell me it was stolen on the 21st."
The FEI stated yesterday that it was continuing with Waterford Crystal's medication control case "in accordance with FEI regulations", but the FEI secretary general Dr Bo Helander refused to comment further on the case.
"It's a police matter now and we don't want to say anything that might jeopardise that police investigation," Dr Helander said from his office in Lausanne yesterday.
He confirmed police had been called in and that the FEI was also holding an internal investigation to ensure no blame could be levelled at the international governing body.
Cian O'Connor declined to comment when contacted by The Irish Times yesterday.