While DNA analysis showed the samples given in Goulburn to essentially be a match, it did not say whether the urine in both was Brown’s or Rando’s or someone else’s.
It is believed the two drivers have since provided follow-up samples that have been sent off to the laboratory in Melbourne.
Brown had been stood down after the race meet in Goulburn after failing to provide a second vial of urine at the racecourse when he was requested to do so by stewards, who had deemed his initial sample of insufficient volume.
That order was lifted two days later, with Brown cleared to return to the track, when testing was able to confirm the sample he gave was free of banned substances despite there being a low volume of it.
Under the rules of Australian harness racing, a driver commits an offence if they refuse to deliver a sample as directed by stewards, “or tampers with, adulterates, alters, substitutes or in any way hinders the collection of such sample or attempts to do any of those things”.
Prohibited race-day substances include cannabis, stimulants such as cocaine and benzodiazepines, while alcohol is also banned at a reading of more than 0.02 per cent on a breathalyser.
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The circumstances surrounding Brown and Rando’s interim suspension are thought to be a first in harness racing in the state and there has been only one recent episode of drug testing tampering in thoroughbred horse racing in NSW.
That occurred a decade ago when jockey Josh Adams pleaded guilty at a Racing NSW stewards inquiry to contravening testing rules by using liquid in a container he had hidden in his clothing as a substitute for a urine sample. He was banned for two years.
In 2015, Parramatta Eels forward Kenny Edwards took a drug test on behalf of teammate Kaysa Pritchard, who told officials he had been concerned about ingesting a sleeping tablet that hadn’t been issued to him by the National Rugby League club’s doctor.
Pritchard was later instructed to provide a sample for testing, which was being conducted by the NRL in the pre-season, and both players came back clear.
Edwards was suspended for nine months by the NRL for breaching the testing protocol.
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