Trainer Gerard Butler banned five years for steroid violations

Gerard Butler has been banned for five years by the BHA disciplinary panel after pleading guilty to all seven charges relating to the use of the prohibited substance stanozonol on horses in his care.

The panel summarised Butler's actions as "an appalling breach of his duty to look after the interests of the horses in his care and amounted to conduct that was seriously prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct and good reputation of horseracing in Great Britain."

In the findings from the disciplinary panel, it was revealed that Butler had not purchased Sungate as it had been previously thought but a product called Rexogin which contains a dose of stanozonol ten-times stronger than that of Sungate. 

Butler faced seven charges relating to the use of stanozonol, an anabolic steroid, including administering intra-articular injections to four horses himself despite him not being a registered veterinary surgeon, with nine of his horses testing positive for the banned substance.