DUBLIN (AFP) - A second dope test on a blood sample taken from Irish Olympic show jumping gold medallist Cian O'Connor's horse has tested positive for banned substances, the rider said.
In a statement issued by his solicitor Andrew Coonan, O'Connor said he had been "unofficially informed" that "minute" traces of the medications fluphenazine and zuclopenthixol had been found in a B sample from his Olympic horse Waterford Crystal.
The 24-year-old risks being stripped of the gold medal for his victory in the individual show jumping event in Athens.
Irish Sports Minister John O'Donoghue described the positive result as "a disappointment".
He said it was "regrettable that the full facts of this matter were not disclosed to the Irish public at a much earlier stage, which would have been in the interests of the sport and everybody concerned."
The tests on the second sample took place at the US Equestrian Drug Testing and Research Laboratory in New York on Monday.
O'Connor said the amount of the medications was "approximately one billion times less" than the present drink driving limit in Ireland.
"The preliminary readings seem to suggest a figure of about 120 picograms of Fluphenazine which amounts to 0.00012 millionth of a gram in one millilitre of blood and the quantity of concentration of Zuclopenthixol amounts to 0.0005 millionth of a gram in one millilitre of blood."
O'Connor said he had always maintained that the 'B' analysis would confirm the horse was given a medication by his veterinary surgeon during therapy only, and well in advance of the Games.
He said the substances would have "had no therapeutic or performance enhancement value whatsoever" by the time the Games began.
"It is plain to see that we are talking about a fraction of a millionth of a gram in each case."
A second O'Connor horse, ABC Landliebe, also tested positive for banned substances, fluphenazine and guanabenz, after competing in Rome earlier this year.
O'Connor was not suspended or banned by world governing body the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) for the ABC Landliebe result but was fined.
"I want to reiterate that no treatment has been deliberately given to my horses, that would enhance their performance," O'Connor said.
An explanation for the administration of the drugs was given in a statement from O'Connor's vet, James Sheeran, who said Waterford Crystal was in full fitness, but needed treatment in a hydrotherapy unit for one week.
"This entails standing in an enclosed space and I did not want him to injure himself. I chose these drugs because I wanted a calming effect without making him sleepy or unsteady on his feet, as equine medicines would.
"Also by this one-off injection it did not require administration by injection on a daily basis, which I chose in the best interests of the horse.
"The result of the B sample proves that the concentration is at a sub-therapeutic level, and would therefore have no positive effect on performance at the time of the Games."
An A urine sample from Waterford Crystal also tested positive. But that has yet to be confirmed by the B urine sample which was stolen while in the process of being shipped by the FEI by courier from a laboratory in Paris to another one near Cambridge in England.
O'Connor was Ireland's only medallist at Athens. It was the first time the country had won an equestrian medal and O'Connor was hailed as a hero on his return.
If he were to be stripped of his medal Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa, who finished second on Baloubet, would be promoted to gold.
11/09/2004 - 18:59 GMT - AFP