Racing policy in Tasmania is not to release details of positive swabs until cases have been finalised, but it’s common knowledge in racing circles that the swab was from a horse trained at Longford by Karl Rhodes.

Head of racing integrity in Tasmania, Tony Murray, when contacted by The Examiner on Sunday  night, said that the swab announcement policy was likely to change next season but, as it was still in place, he was not in a position to provide official details of the cobalt finding.

However Mr Murray did confirm that he had recently placed ‘‘serious conditions’’ on Karl Rhodes’ training licence and that Rhodes had appealed against his ruling.

The Racing Appeal Board is due to hear the case on Monday.

Cobalt is a naturally occurring substance in racehorses, but when the level exceeds 200 micrograms per litre in urine it is deemed to have been raised artificially and is therefore a positive swab.

The highest reading reported in Australia so far is 6470 mg/l returned by a horse trained in New South Wales by Darren Smith who was subsequently disqualified for 15 years.

The reading is Tasmania is believed to be 19,000 mg/l.

In comparison, the reading returned by the Peter Moody-trained Lidari in Melbourne _ in a case yet to be finalised _ was only 380 mg/l.

There is also a positive swab to cobalt in Tasmanian harness racing but that reading is believed to be only in the 300s and the trainer concerned has made it known that he no longer intends to be involved in the industry.

Rhodes, a former Victorian, trains only a small number of horses and is probably best known as the trackwork rider last spring for Tasmania’s glamour horse The Cleaner.