Harry refuses to walk from fight for industry members

Toowoomba trainer reluctantly in the frontline seeking justice for industry colleagues.

Toowoomba trainer Harry Richardson.

RACING : Harry Richardson has always been willing to fight for what he believes is right.

This is a fight - not of his making - and one he says he shouldn’t even be in.

But he won’t give up the battle to clear his name and those of his colleagues, along with the reputation of the racing industry.

This is a confrontation he said Australian trainers, across all three codes, cannot afford to lose.

The Toowoomba trainer had his clean 50-year racing record smeared in September this year when he became one of more than 350 nationwide licensees to be hit by QRIC stewards with a cobalt charge and nine-month suspension.

His penalty is one of the latest in an ongoing controversy surrounding Racing Australia’s cobalt rules.

Richardson has now reluctantly found himself one of the Queensland industry’s frontline soldiers in the battle to clear the names of those he said had been unjustly penalised over cobalt findings.

“Ninety per cent of trainers are being done for B12 supplementation,” Richardson said.

“B12 is used to help control horse stress.

“If welfare groups want to look at this, the only reason we use it is for horse care. It’s not used as a hit.

“Why should trainers lose their livelihoods over B12?

“I hope the racing ministers in all states can step up and help find a solution to this problem.

“It won’t go away on its own. It’s a matter of who will be charged next.

“It’s in racing’s best interest to resolve this.

“This cobalt controversy is making us all look like cheats, which we are not.

“The ongoing publicity this continues to bring to racing is unhealthy and paints the industry in a very bad light”.