Inside story: The fallout of the Ben Currie saga 12 months after it all began at Toowoomba

Saturday marks the 12-month anniversary since the Ben Currie racing saga began. Racing editor Nathan Exelby takes an in-depth look at the scandal that continues to plague the sport in Queensland.

IN the afterglow of Amanaat’s dominant win in last year’s Toowoomba Weetwood, trainer Ben Currie seemed disaffected by the drama that had engulfed his stable only hours earlier.

The Queensland Racing Integrity Commission had put out a press release earlier that morning stating an inquiry had been opened into “suspicious activity” at his Hursley Road stable.

As Amanaat’s delirious owners celebrated wildly around him, Currie was asked about the allegations being made by QRIC on what had happened earlier in the day.

“If there was a problem, they wouldn’t be running. Truck on,” he said.

Currie’s latter assertion has proven spot on. He and his stable runners have been trucking on ever since.

His stable has won 170 races since that day and this season alone they have earned more than $3million in prizemoney.

While that has unfolded, stewards have hit him with an initial 37 charges, including allegations of illegal raceday treatments and the use of a jigger, and separately, five swab irregularities.

Amanaat powers away to win the Weetwood at Toowoomba last year.

Yet despite the issuing of two new charges alleging the use of a jigger this week and the fifth swab irregularity coming to light yesterday (pertaining to the horse Eight Over, who won at Toowoomba on February 2), Currie will still be trucking on at Toowoomba’s Clifford Park this afternoon.

He has 19 acceptors and chances in all nine races.

On the opening day of the 2019 Queensland Winter Racing Carnival, the state’s integrity is in tatters.

It beggars belief that the current system, which was architected by Alan MacSporran and designed to make Queensland’s racing integrity the “envy of all other states”, allows this situation to play out.

Twelve months have now elapsed since the initial stable raid and not one of those alleged offences is close to being finalised.

THE FALLOUT

It has created a toxic environment in Queensland racing circles and had interstate jurisdictions looking on with a mix of disbelief and laughter.

Queensland trainers who venture interstate say they would love a dollar for every time they are asked about Currie.

Discussion on south-east tracks is dominated by talk of the Toowoomba trainer. Whenever he wins a race there’s an uncomfortable silence, coupled with scowls of anger from his more vocal opponents and a social media storm of how he shouldn’t be training while the charges are pending.

Tony Khoury, Bobby El-Issa and Ben Currie after Amanaat's win in the Weetwood at Toowoomba last year.

Currie, who dubbed himself the Gingerbread Man in a twitter post earlier this year before removing it soon after, has maintained a resilient face throughout the saga.

He readily confronts critics on social media and fronts up to race days and post-race interviews as if all is normal in the world. At least outwardly, he presents as if the charges alongside his name are merely a temporary distraction that will soon be a distant memory.

He and supporters have been adamant his constant flow of winners is the result of his skilful training and not anything sinister.

But because of a flawed system, the answer to his guilt or innocence remains undetermined. He is of course assumed innocent until proven guilty.

THE FLAWED SYSTEM

Currie was initially charged in May last year. Incredibly only half of those 28 charges have been heard by stewards, as delay after delay has beset an inquiry that has descended into a farcical situation for Queensland racing.

Twice QRIC has stood Currie down and twice he has been granted a stay of proceedings at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

QRIC’s bid to have the trainer denied another Stay was derailed this week, with Currie’s legal team successfully seeking an adjournment.

That hearing is now scheduled for April 18.

Currie has maintained his innocence throughout and in an interview with the Gold Coast Bulletin last month he too took aim at the system.

Horse Trainer Ben Currie (right) arrives at the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission alongside QC Jim Murdoch.

“I understand people’s frustrations with the system. I tend to agree with them,” he said.

“It’s not my fault the system has meant it’s dragged on. I’m prepared to defend myself and give myself the best chance to fight the charges. The system has to change in some regard, how I’m not sure but we could have it speed up.”

Racing Minister Stirling Hinchliffe has conceded the system needs changing and has committed to coming up with a system that better suits the needs of racing, including the possibility of a specialist racing arm within QCAT.

THE LEGAL STOUSH

The crux of the QRIC case against Currie in relation to jigger use centres around what constitutes race day treatment and also the interpretation of the term “harp” or “harped” as used by Currie in text messages.

Currie’s legal representative Jim Murdoch, told QCAT harp could have a multitude of meanings, including “skilfully trained.”

The Commission alleges harp is related to the use of electrical devices known as jiggers and to that end this week tabled an affidavit from former top steward Ray Murrihy confirming as much.

With regards to race day treatment, the case against Currie will become clearer when the outcome of a QCAT appeal by his father Mark, scheduled to begin next month, is known.

Mark Currie was disqualified for two years last May (he is still permitted to train on a stay of proceedings) as part of the same Weetwood day investigation after footage allegedly showed him administering a substance to horses on race morning.

The substance is claimed to be boost paste, which both Mark and Ben Currie’s legal team argue is not a medication, as defined in the Australian Rules of Racing.

A Currie stable employee, Greg Britnell, was disqualified for 18 months as part of this inquiry, but did not appeal his sentence to QCAT.

QRIC in making their case point to AR1, where “medication” is defined as “any treatment with drugs or other substances”.

They also will also table an Australian Trainers Association explanation from October 2018 which states all treatments, including pastes, are not to be permitted on race day.