Trainer Robert Smerdon holds key to Damien Oliver cash delivery

IT'S curious, the Robert Smerdon case. What, exactly, has punter Mark Hunter told stewards in order to gain immunity?

IT'S curious, the Robert Smerdon case. What, exactly, has punter Mark Hunter told stewards in order to gain immunity?

Has he told them that he handed Smerdon $11,000 to pass on to Damien Oliver - a strange "role" for the respected trainer but not much else - or has he told them more about the money?

Has he told them Smerdon knew where the money came from? That the wad in his hand was winnings Oliver had "earned" for backing a horse, Miss Octopussy, that wasn't the one he was riding?

This charge, surely, will either stick or collapse - spectacularly - on how much Smerdon knew about his delivery to Oliver back in late 2010.

If Smerdon is to be prosecuted for behaviour that is prejudicial to the image of racing, then stewards would have to be armed more heavily than with a merely curious looking delivery from punter to jockey, via trainer.

It's possible the stewards, perhaps desperate to be seen to be proactive, have charged Smerdon based solely on his role of courier. If so, they would seem to be armed with a pea shooter, and no peas.

Again, it's an odd thing for Smerdon to have done; explicable, maybe, but odd.

But that doesn't make it corrupt, especially in the eyes of the appeals' board which would surely need something more concrete than a cash delivery to make a conviction.

As Smerdon's legal counsel Tim McHenry said in a stinging attack on the stewards, "every licensed person worldwide" would have cause for alarm if mates were charged for delivering cash to mates.

McHenry, perhaps offering an insight into the stewards' case, said the stipes had "not a scintilla of evidence" that Smerdon knew of the nature of the payment, adding that "even the stewards concede this."

It's difficult to imagine the stewards have charged Smerdon solely for dropping something off in Port Melbourne.

But maybe they're trigger happy after the whack they copped for allowing Oliver to ride during the spring instead of standing him down.

Maybe, maybe not.

The case will be heard early next year.