That will hurt...Champion trainer Chris Waller has been hit with a $30,000 fine and his horse Junoob stripped from his Group 1 Metropolitan win.

Racing NSW stewards late today imposed the penalties after an inquiry into Junoob returned a positive swab to Frusemide after its win in The Metropolitan at Randwick on October 4.

After an inquiry that lasted more than two hours, Racing NSW stewards handed down one of the biggest recent fines to Waller, who pleaded guilty to bringing Junoob to the races with a prohibited substance in its system.

Jockey Greg Hall was fined $50,000 after his winning ride on Merlene in the 1996 Golden Slipper.

As well as being fined, Junoob was disqualified from his Group 1 victory and his connections lose the $240,000 first prize money.

With the disqualification of Junoob, ridden by Blake Shinn, the Metropolitan placings were amended to Opinionfirst, Araldo second; Kingdoms third; Disclaimer fourth and Bagman fifth.

Ironically, Opinion is trained by Waller, whose exemplary record in 19-years as a trainer was taken into account by stewards when assessing penalty.

Evidence was taken from Waller, Ms Analise Trollope, foreperson for Waller, and Liam Prior, the racing manager for Waller as well as Dr Craig Suann, Racing NSW Senior Official Veterinarian and Mr John Keledjian, General Manager, Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory.

Dr Suann provided advice to the inquiry that frusemide is a diuretic and a prohibited substance under the rules of racing.  

Racing NSW Intelligence and Surveillance Unit Chief Investigator, Nathan Hayward provided written evidence concerning an inspection of Waller’s Rosehill stables on November 3, following the receipt of an irregularity report on that day from the ARFL laboratory.

In considering penalty, stewards were satisfied from the scientific evidence that the administration of frusemide toJunoob most likely occurred at or around 3:30am on the morning of the race.

Stewards found that the administration of frusemide was an inadvertent administration by Ms Trollope, while conducting scheduled administrations of frusemide to 8 horses in Barn 1 (where Junoob (GB) was housed) prior to those horses completing fast work at Rosehill that morning.   (Racing Network)