Harness Racing SA threatens disciplinary action over industry criticism on social media
SA’s peak harness racing body has threatened disciplinary action against participants who criticise the ailing industry on social media.
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South Australia’s peak harness racing body has hit back at its critics, threatening disciplinary action if they make disparaging comments on social media.
The warning from Harness Racing SA’s stewards follows recent discussions on industry chat groups about the swabbing of horses competing at the state’s trotting tracks.
The organisation’s chairman, George Fiacchi, has rejected suggestions blood and urine samples have not been sent interstate for testing because of financial problems within the industry.
“We do not have financial problems, we have just made a $50,000 profit and for people to suggest we are trying to save money on swabs is absolutely false,” he said.
Mr Fiacchi said a new board appointed last year by the State Government to oversee harness racing was committed to cleaning up the industry.
“One of the first things I did when I became chairman was to establish an integrity and welfare committee,” he said.
“Unless there are any facts that anything has gone wrong (with drug testing) then it is just scuttlebuck.”
Integrity within the harness racing industry emerged as the key concern of participants in a survey conducted by Harness Racing SA earlier this year.
Chief executive Ross Neal said it was “absolutely ridiculous” for some people involved in harness racing to suggest swabs were not being tested.
“Horses are regularly swabbed pre race and post race and all of those swabs have been sent to Racing Laboratory Services in Victoria, which is world-renowned,” he said.
Mr Neal said he was not aware of the detail of the claims being made by some industry observers about drug testing “because I am not on social media’’.
“All I can tell you is that the claims are absolutely ridiculous,” he said.
The claims prompted Harness Racing SA to issue a warning in its latest newsletter, saying “significant penalties” would be imposed under its rules and regulations against anyone making unsubstantiated allegations.
“A person shall not say, publish or write or cause to be said, published or written, anything malicious, intimidatory or otherwise improper about the controlling body, its members and employees or the stewards or anyone else associated with the harness racing industry,” it said.
The warning comes as Harness Racing SA remains in dispute with the state’s main trotting club, South Australia Harness Racing Club (SAHRC), over unpaid meeting fees.
SAHRC is demanding the payment of an outstanding $200,000, saying it has been unable to restock its bar and reopen other facilities at its headquarters at Globe Derby Park.
Longstanding tensions between the two parties became strained earlier this year when Mr Fiacchi wrote to the club’s chairwoman, Ann Mowday, asking for a voluntary administrator to be appointed.
The club — which has only made a profit once in the past 14 years — owes more than $5 million in outstanding debts.
It has been waiting for the past two years for a developer to pay $2 million which still remains outstanding over a land deal signed in 2018.