The brother of suspended trainer Ciaron Maher has joined him on the sidelines after testing positive to a banned substance.

A trainer in his own right, Declan Maher returned a positive test in a urine sample taken while he was riding trackwork at Caulfield on October 2.

The positive test came little more than a week after Ciaron Maher was suspended for six months and fined $75,000 over the ownership bona fides of five horses owned by convicted con man Peter Foster.

Declan Maher was suspended from riding trackwork for four months and also banned from handling horses for a month.

After his one-month suspension and providing he returns a clear sample he can return to handling horses while his trackwork suspension ends next February.

In determining penalty stewards took into account his guilty plea, personal circumstances, good record and nature of the substance.

Maher was one of three licensed people suspended when the results from the tests taken on October 2 were returned with Luke Armstrong (three months) and Paul Sarlo (four months) banned from riding trackwork.