New South Wales harness racing facing fresh calls for fresh review into doping penalties
There are mounting calls for an independent review into doping bans handed to harness racing trainers in New South Wales who have all denied knowingly drugging their horses.
New South Wales trotting officials are facing fresh calls for an independent review into the heavy penalties that have been imposed on working-class industry participants for offences they say they knew nothing about.
For years, harness racing trainers and drivers have been complaining that the sport’s penalty system is unfairly stacked against them because they can sometimes receive life-changing disqualifications for unintentional rule breaches.
This is often the case with doping matters, which are rarely black and white incidents of deliberate cheating.
Often, participants get busted for using contaminated products they had no idea contained banned substances.
As previously revealed by this masthead, at least a dozen NSW trainers have been disqualified after their horses returned tiny traces of Levamisole, a prohibited substance in NSW that can sometimes be found in common medications sold over the counter, including worming products.
The trainers all denied trying to drug their horses, arguing that the positive test results came about unknowingly, sometimes from drenches or worming products or horses eating grass that sheep or cattle had urinated off after being treated.
But their pleas often fall on deaf ears, with participants going broke as they try to fight to keep their jobs and clear their names only to still end up with hefty disqualifications.
This masthead has heard from multiple trainers claiming the bans have seriously damaged their wellbeing and mental health.
Now they are fighting back, asking HRNSW’s new board members to at least consider an independent review into the whole penalty system.
The trigger for the latest calls was the shocking revelation by this masthead last month that HRNSW withheld information about the presence of Levamisole in Fenbender 100, a popular drench which farmers and trainers use to treat livestock.
Although HRNSW did issue a public statement about the trace findings on October 30, that came three months after the sport’s officials were first notified by Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory about the presence of Levamisole.
HRNSW has insisted they were right to delay notification because, among other reasons, the bottle that caused the first notice was open and tested positive to a high concentration of Levamisole, whereas the bottle that resulted in the October 30 notice was sealed and tested positive for a much smaller amount of the drug.
Barbara Scott, the former steward, and Scott Wade, one of the dozen banned trainers, both believed that information should have been passed on instantly to industry participants.
As part of this masthead’s investigation, the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has since confirmed it was also made aware of concerns about Levamisole in worming products before HRNSW’s public announcement, with a spokesman saying: “The APVMA has received 2 adverse experience reports from harness racing horse trainers alleging certain equine products were contaminated with Levamisole. Preliminary analysis indicates that this may have occurred after the products were initially sold and opened, which would fall under the jurisdiction of state authorities.”
Now, this masthead can also reveal that two NSW trainers were banned after buying horses from New Zealand that had been treated with Levamisole before they were sold to Australia.
Both horses came from the stables of the same New Zealand trainer, Ken Barron, who was interviewed by NSW integrity officials after the first horse tested positive.
According to a transcript of that interview, dated 15 March 2021, HRNSW Integrity manager Michael Prentice asked Barron if he had sold any other horses to Australia that had been treated with Levamisole.
Barron said: “There is another – there’s other horses. There is quite a few of ours recently Chubby Checker has gone. He was done. They were all done.
Barron went on to say: “Chubby Checker hasn’t raced yet, and I’m pretty sure he’s in New South Wales.”
Prentice replied “All right, thank you for that information. We will chase that up.”
At a later investigation, Barron stated that he was not completely certain Chubby Checker had been treated with Levamisole.
By then, Chubby Checker had already had his first registered race in Australia on March 23. He won the race and subsequently tested positive for the banned substance.
His Australian handler, Jack Trainor, said he was never pre-warned that there may have been any concerns about his new horse possibly being treated with Levamisole.
Despite appealing the case, Trainor’s disqualification stood.
Contacted by this masthead, he said he still felt hard done by after spending years and all his savings trying to clear his name and get his job back.
He has joined the calls for authorities to take a fresh look at the harsh penalties imposed on participants when it was apparent they were not trying to cheat.
“I want a clean sport more than anyone. The last thing I want to do is race against people that are taking shortcuts but think that the penalties are just ludicrous compared to the rest of Australia and New Zealand,” Trainor said.
“Now that they’re privy to more information about it, they now know it can be contaminated through grass and soil and water.
“I think it’s time for them to do the right thing and right their wrongs. I’m not after reimbursements or anything. I just want my job back and my life back and my integrity back and my name cleared.”
HRNSW is standing firm, however.
They did not reply to a series of questions from this masthead about the Trainor case and other integrity important matters, while strenuously denied any wrongdoing.
Instead, HRNSW called in their lawyers, who threatened legal action over this masthead’s reporting of problems within the industry.
In one letter, HRNSW’s lawyers even conducted a property search on the journalist and sought an undertaking they would not sell their family home given the threatened legal action.
This masthead stands by its reporting of alleged problems with the sport, which coincide with other media being threatened with legal action from racing authorities.
Earlier this week, The Thoroughbred Report, issued a statement on its website saying it was among three independent publishers threatened with legal action for reporting on governance matters in the New South Wales thoroughbred racing industry.
“Australia’s implied freedom of political communication protects the media’s ability to discuss matters of governance and public interest. Trying to intimidate journalists through legal threats is fundamentally inconsistent with that protection,” the statement read.
“When this happens, the message extends far beyond the newsroom. It tells trainers, owners, breeders, employees, and concerned participants that speaking up carries risk. It creates fear and encourages silence. And it erodes the culture of openness on which trust depends.”
Peter Morris is a special counsel with Hammond Nguyen Turnbull, a law firm that specialises in racing matters.
He agreed it was time for harness racing to pause and take a fresh look at the way it handles integrity matters in the same way the National Rugby League (NRL) has.
“The integrity of HRNSW is foundational on the welfare of the animal,” Morris said.
“The role of HRNSW is akin to a police prosecutor and I am reminded of the comments of Justice Perry in De Belin and Australian Rugby League Commission Pty Ltd [2019] FCA 688 at [289], where he provided a prosecutor must make an independent, objective and impartial decision having regard to all relevant circumstances whether they are advantages or not advantages to the suspect … imposing a duty at all times to exercise the highest standards of integrity and care.“
Morris is not alone questioning HRNSW’s justice system.
In September, a former supreme court judge, who had served as chair of the NRL’s judiciary, ruled that HRNSW had overstepped its powers by banning reinsman Ben Sarina for life.
Sarina, a lifelong trotting driver battling mental health demons after being booted out of the sport during the infamous ‘green-light scandal’, pleaded with trotting officials to give him a second chance almost a decade and a half out of the sport but HRNSW instead has appealed the case, which won’t be heard until next year.
“I don’t know how much money they’ve spent on keeping me out but it’s just ridiculous,” Sarina said. “This is money that should be going into prize money, not stopping people from being involved in the industry.”
Originally published as New South Wales harness racing facing fresh calls for fresh review into doping penalties
