This horse is barred from running in Cup week after failing a drug test – that its trainer requested

November 1, 2026 — 7:15pm

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Blinkers On is a weekly column covering the biggest issues of the spring racing carnival.

It is the last thing racing needed on the eve of Melbourne Cup week – another group of unsuspecting victims caught up in racing’s breast cancer drug saga. But, here we are again.

This time around, up to 50 owners have had their Cup week dreams ruined because their horse Major Share has produced a left-field positive to formestane – a mysterious substance that popped out of nowhere almost four years ago and which has baffled the racing industry ever since.

It is the second time Major Share has thrown a positive swab in 12 months and as a result, their talented gelding can’t run on Oaks Day.

To say the large cohort of country-based owners are gutted is an understatement. One minute they are booking their tickets to Flemington, the next they are packing away their suits.

“I’ve been involved in horses in one form or another for 50 years, and this is the best horse I’ve ever been involved in, by a considerable margin,” retired school teacher Greg May told this masthead.

“To not be able to see him race because of something, which all the evidence points to occurs naturally and in minute doses, so it has no impact on his physical performance whatsoever, is incredibly frustrating.

“We’ve got another six or eight weeks of bills to pay with no possible chance of getting any prizemoney back, and it’s not [trainer] Adam Chambers’ fault.

“If anything, I think Adam is more of a victim in this than the owners because his reputation has been impinged.”

Major Share was due to return this week after 12 months........

© The Age