A portion of the B sample from the horse Waterford Crystal, ridden by Cian O'Connor to gold in the Athens Olympics, was stolen in Cambridgeshire last month, according to the international equestrian body, the FEI.
In a statement issued today, the Swiss-based FEI said that the sample was illegally taken while being shipped by a third-party courier service from the Medication Control Programme Central Laboratory in Paris to the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory in Cambridgeshire on October 21 st.
It said the matter was currently being investigated by police in Lausanne and Cambridgeshire. An internal FEI investigation is also being undertaken.
The FEI said it was proceeding with the medication control case of Waterford Crystal in accordance with its regulations.
Last month it was revealed that the horse tested positive for a prohibited substance in a sample taken immediately after the gold medal-winning performance in Greece.
The Equestrian Federation of Ireland (EFI) today said it had asked for additional information from the FEI in Switzerland, and had also requested an immediate meeting with the FEI in Lausanne, "so that the matter can be urgently investigated".
The President of the EFI, Ms Avril Doyle, MEP said: "At this stage there are more questions than answers. But I don't like what I'm hearing".
Yesterday the EFI denied rumours in equestrian circles that the B sample from Waterford Crystal had been "lost".
The rumours came after a batch of samples, including the one from Waterford Crystal, was sent on to the Hong Kong Jockey Club laboratory for confirmatory analysis by the Horseracing Forensic Laboratory (HFL) in Newmarket.
