Details of a secret sting that caught disgraced harness racing trainer Jesse Alford injecting two horses with a prohibited substance have emerged at a hearing where integrity officials called for him to be banned from the sport for nine years.

Alford appeared at a penalty hearing before the Judicial Control Authority at Addington Raceway on Wednesday after pleading guilty to two charges of administering a prohibited substance on race day and one charge of attempting to administer a prohibited substance.

At the hearing it was revealed that Racing Integrity Unit (RIU) investigators planted a hidden camera near the Woodend Beach stables the 30-year-old shared after receiving a tip he was doping horses.

On February 25 they caught him red-handed as he injected two horses, Johnny Nevits and Jimmy Cannon, with a substance, and attempted to tube one of them, two hours before they were due to race at the NZ Metropolitan Trotting Club meet at Addington Raceway.

Tubing is an illegal process that allows a chemical solution to be administered to a horse to improve its stamina.

The hidden camera footage was among evidence presented at Wednesday’s hearing.

According to the summary of facts, Alford injected Jimmy Cannon in the neck using a syringe filled with 10 millilitres of formalin, which contains about 10 per cent formaldehyde, while another person, whose name is suppressed, held the horse by its head collar.

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by Sam Sherwood

Stuff