Trainer Peter Moody asked Victoria's chief racing steward if he thought he was a cheat after being charged with administering cobalt to a racehorse.

Moody said he never expected to be charged with administration after Lidari returned an elevated cobalt reading following his second in the 2014 Turnbull Stakes.

He was charged in July and told by Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey there was a mandatory minimum three-year disqualification for intentionally administering cobalt to affect a horse's performance in a race.

"I looked him in the eye and I said: 'Do you believe I'm a cheat'.

"His answer was well the substance got into this horse in some way, shape or form," Moody said on Thursday.

Moody told the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board he knew little if anything about cobalt before being told about Lidari's reading in January.

Asked by his barrister Matthew Stirling if he had any knowledge of what cobalt would do to Lidari, Moody said: "No I didn't and I can honestly say to this point in time I still don't."

Moody said he was aware of the April 2014 introduction of a threshold level for cobalt but it was not something he was concerned about in any way.

Racing Victoria stewards' barrister Jeff Gleeson asked Moody why he didn't bother to find out more.

The Caulfield trainer said he was probably the simplest feeder and supplement trainer anywhere.

"I've been highly successful and performed at the highest level for a lot of years," he said.

"No I didn't have any reason to red flag or have any questions with anything I do in my stable."

Moody's defence argues a stablehand mistakenly gave Lidari large doses of oral hoof treatment Availa - at seven times the recommended quantity - and Moody played no part in it.

The horse was also given an IV multi-vitamin injection 24 hours before the race rather than the normal 48 hours.

Moody said he did not know Availa's ingredients at the time nor that it contained cobalt.

He did not tell stewards during an interview the one supplement, Availa, Lidari had received for months, the tribunal heard.

Moody said he did not panic when he found out a few weeks after being charged that stablehand Rami Myala had been feeding Lidari large doses of Availa.

"It was brought to my attention. I didn't go out and grab him by the throat and shake it out of him," he said.

"My initial response probably wasn't one of great panic because I didn't have a great belief that it would be the cause or the root of all evil."

It is unlikely the case will be resolved before the January yearling sales and Mr Stirling said Moody's business would "go down the gurgler" if an adjournment meant he could not spend his usual $5-6 million on horses.