Pat Hughes fined for unauthorised remedies Trainer Pat Hughes was found guilty of possessing unauthorised animal remedies at Carlow District Court yesterday. The case against Hughes was brought by the Department of Agriculture following an unannounced inspection of his yard in February 2012. Hughes had entered a plea of not guilty to eight charges of possessing unauthorised animal remedies including Stanazolol and anabolic steroid but judge Eamon O'Brien found the trainer guilty and fined him €2,500. Hughes will also have to pay €5,000 in legal costs and €600 in expenses. Department of Agriculture vet Louis Riordan said that on February 1st, 2012, Customs intercepted a package being imported into Ireland from Australia with a number of animal remedies. One of the names included on the invoice as a co-signee was Pat Hughes. On foot of that discovery the Department of Agriculture obtained a search warrant and the following day visited his premises at Fenniscourt Stud, Bagenalstown, Co. Carlow where they discovered a number of unauthorised products including three bottles of Stanazolol, a muscle building steroid. 72-year-old Hughes has had no runners on the track since the end of May this year, his last winner was Speed Dial at Limerick on 5th May 2013. Hughes trained the winners of two Irish Grand Nationals, Insure (1986) and Point Barrow (2006).
