Magic Millions: Gold Coast Turf Club welcomes police confirmation track was poison before races
The Gold Coast Turf Club’s CEO has hit out at critics after police confirmed its track had been “maliciously” poisoned in the lead up to the Magic Millions carnival.
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The Gold Coast Turf Club’s CEO has hit out at critics after police confirmed its track had been “maliciously” poisoned in the lead up to the Magic Millions carnival.
Police said on Monday the track had been sabotaged in early January with an independent report finding it had been poisoned with “malice and intent”.
Club boss Steve Lines said it was “disappointing” that senior people within the racing industry and public had publicly doubted the club. He welcomed the outcome of the police investigation.
“We were always comfortable that (deliberate poisoning) was the issue, yet all these people tried to make accusations and there were a lot of them, particularly senior people in this industry,” he said.
“It’s so disappointing, it always is, but I made a commitment to the police and they got the evidence after discounting those accusations.
“All the way along we would have been the first to put up our hands if it was our fault.”
The damage to the track was discovered on January 3 around the 500m mark, forcing the relocation of the first twilight race event to the Sunshine Coast.
Experts from around the country flew in to help fix the track on time for the Magic Millions race day featuring the $3m 2YO Classic and the $3m 3YO Guineas. After being delayed a number of days because of rain it was successfully held last Friday evening, becoming Australia’s richest ever night meeting in the process.
Gold Coast police acting superintendent Jason Tuffley on Monday ruled out the damage as being caused accidentally by the Turf Club.
He said it was believed the glyphosate had been applied “four to five days prior” to the damage becoming apparent.
“(It) was more than vandalism – it’s wilful damage of that turf which has then had a financial impact on the Turf Club itself and the Gold Coast community from a wider perspective,” he said.
“It could be a targeted attack against the racing industry itself or the Gold Coast Turf Club or the Magic Millions event itself. We have no idea who’s responsible for this.
“However, investigations are continuing and all (Turf Club) staff have been ruled out.”
An independent report by leading agronomist Craig Easton found the poisoning was “an intentional act of prepared sabotage” with the herbicide glyphosate applied to a 385 sqm section of turf near the 500m mark with “malice and intent”.
Mr Easton found that the herbicide had been administered using a knapsack sprayer to cause maximum damage.
Mr Lines said photos showing a squared off area surrounding the damage had given people a false impression of how the track had been poisoned.
“The right course of action was to let the authorities do what they are professionals at, as well as appoint a chemical analyst to help us understand what happened,” he said.
“Nobody (in the general public) saw the original damage and we didn’t want to show them that because it was under investigation.
“We’d love to know who did it but it’s tough given our CCTV didn’t show any activity, but it also did show we didn’t make a mistake.”
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