A mammoth inquiry into alleged raceday treatments on horses in Victoria has ended with five trainers and three stablehands found guilty of charges brought against them by Racing Victoria.
Leading Victorian trainer Robert Smerdon is facing a possible lifetime ban after he was found guilty of 115 charges arising from the raceday treatment of Lovani at Flemington last October.
The Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board brought down the findings today, with penalties to be announced later.
Five trainers - Robert Smerdon, Tony Vasil, Stuart Webb, Trent Pennuto and Liam Birchley - and three stablehands - Greg and Denise Nelligan and Daniel Garland - all from the former Aquanita Racing shared the 271 charges arising from investigations following the alleged race day treatment of Lovani.
The RAD Board found that all eight were guilty of dishonest, corrupt, fraudulent, improper or dishonourable practice in that they were party to the administration of alkalinising agents and/or medications to a horse or horses on a raceday.
Smerdon was one of eight people involved in the 'Aquanita Inquiry' to be found guilty by the RAD Board of charges relating to race day treatment stretching over a seven-year period from 2010.
RAD Board chairman Judge John Bowman said the Aquanita investigation revealed "one of racing's darkest chapters" involving "a sad and disturbing story" of a "long-running, systematic conspiracy to try to obtain an unfair advantage over a seven year period".
He said the Board was in no doubt that all eight people charged were involved in varying degrees to the administration of bi-carb "top-ups".
Judge Bowman adjourned the hearing late on Tuesday morning with the direction that the inquiry will reconvene on Thursday, where the board will hear oral submissions on penalties.
Jeff Gleeson QC, appearing for Racing Victoria stewards, said it was a knowing and brazen plan that the accused had been executing over the years and then bragging about cheating when horses were successful.
The Racing Appeals and Disciplinary (RAD) Board is an independent Board set up to hear and determine appeals from decisions of the stewards and to also hear and determine breaches of certain serious offences under the Rules of Racing.
Racing Victoria Chief Executive, Giles Thompson said in a statement: “We welcome the guilty verdicts against all eight licensed and registered persons involved in the Aquanita Case as we believe it sends a very strong signal to anyone who thinks they can undermine the integrity of the sport by actively breaching the Rules of Racing.
“It also is a ringing endorsement of the investigative work of our Integrity Services team who found these breaches and ran an exhaustive four-month investigation before laying charges against these eight people,” he said.
“Our primary objective is to uphold the integrity of the sport and to enforce the Rules of Racing to ensure that every horse is able to compete on a level playing field and we have continued to invest in better systems and capability to achieve this.
“We are committed to ensuring that the very small minority who seek to breach the Rules of Racing and undermine our sport are found, investigated and ultimately prosecuted. That is what our participants, our customers and the wider public expect us to do.
“I want to thank our Integrity Services team for their efforts and remind all the hard-working, passionate and committed participants who abide by the Rules of Racing that we won’t shy away from our role in protecting the integrity of the sport and the welfare of our horses so that they can compete on a level playing field.
“We will now read the RAD Board’s judgement in detail before finalising our submissions on penalties that we believe will accurately reflect today’s decision and the seriousness of the respective breaches of the Rules of Racing.”
- compiled courtesy of The Age and Racing Victoria.
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
