Godolphin transfer to Suroor awaits test results

Godolphin plans to have longtime trainer Saeed bin Suroor take over the Newmarket training yard of suspended trainer Mahmood al Zarooni, but the British Horseracing Authority, which suspended al Zarooni eight years for administering anabolic steroid to horses he trained, said bin Suroor would not be granted a license to train at the yard until all Godolphin horses in Newmarket tested negative for steroids.

Al Zarooni, who has appealed the length of his suspension, was based at Moulton Paddocks, where 15 horses tested positive for steroids and are banned from racing until September. The Godolphin horses at bin Suroor’s training yard, Stanley House, also have been tested for steroids, though there are no known positives in that branch of the operation, nor are there racing restrictions on Godolphin horses trained in England by bin Suroor.

Godolphin announced that no horses based at Moulton Paddocks would be entered until negative tests have been returned on all horses stabled there. The racing authority’s announcement said horses at Moulton Paddocks would not be permitted to be entered for two weeks after a license is granted.

Bin Suroor, an Emirati, has trained for Godolphin since 1995.