Trainers Danny O’Brien and Mark Kavanagh and veterinarian Tom Brennan have been found guilty of cobalt related charges by Victoria's Racing Appeals and Disciplinary (RAD) Board board on Wednesday but the case is far from over.

O’Brien was charged with 28 breaches of the Australian Rules of Racing, Kavanagh four and Brennan 20 relating to elevated levels of cobalt in horses presented at the races.

Judge Russell Lewis took less than 60 seconds at Wednesday’s hearing to announce the RAD Board had found the charges to be proven and adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed, stating January 4 was the earliest for submission on penalty.

Speaking afterwards, O’Brien said himself and Kavanagh were disappointed in the findings.

"We’ve only had a few minutes to digest them. It appears the board has found that neither Mark nor I were aware that cobalt had been administered to our horses, yet they have still found us guilty,” O’Brien said.

"We believe they haven’t actually interpreted the rules the way we argued.

"We’ve obviously been down this path before with the show cause hearing where there was legal argument and naturally we got the right result at VCAT (Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal).”

O’Brien said both he and Kavanagh would be taking Wednesday's decision to VCAT.

"We’re looking forward to getting a hearing as soon as possible and then getting a VCAT date,” O’Brien said.

"When we do get to VCAT we will have the power of subpoena to find out some of things that we were hoping to find out at this hearing but didn’t.

"We’ll also have the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses. We’ll be looking forward to cross-examining Mr Bailey (Terry) and also Mr Vilella (Dion) and the people from RASL (Racing Analytical Services Ltd).

"As I’m sure you are aware, there have been some real issues raised in our case, and with Peter Moody.

"The silence on those issues has been deafening from Racing Victoria and when we get to VCAT there’ll be nowhere to hide.”

Dr Tom Brennan was not present at the hearing.

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