Stewards wrap: Victorian found guilty of live baiting
A VICTORIAN greyhound racing participant has been handed down a life ban in Victoria by the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board (RADB) following on from the live-baiting scandal.
Christopher Connolly was slapped with six charges by Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) Stewards in relation to allegations of live baiting at the Tooradin Trial track on November 18, 2014. Connolly did not appear before the RADB at his hearing on Friday, believed to have returned home to Ireland in February.
The RADB found Connelly guilt on all charges and was given a life ban from the greyhound racing industry.
Connelly's life ban comes the week after Anthony Mills, a Ken Carr medalist, was found guilty of live baiting by the RADB.
A further seven Victorian registered participants will face the RADB over live baiting charges in coming weeks.
New South Wales
New South Wales trainer Brad Cowling has been disqualified for two years and ten months for 11 charges in relation to the nomination and withdrawal of the greyhounds Begheera's Icon and Little Denali from the Goulburn meeting on February 17 and the Dubbo meeting on March 28, 2015.
Both greyhounds were under Cowling's name as a trainer and while giving evidence he admitted to falsifying four nominations and four scratchings, revealing that both greyhounds had not been in his care at the time.
In determining an appropriate penalty stewards considered Cowling's guilty plea, his contrition for his actions, his personal circumstances, the deceptive nature of his actions, the fact that both meetings received TAB coverage and the need to show zero tolerance for making false or misleading statements to trainers.
Brad Field disqualified
Prominent NSW trainer Brad Field faced Greyhound Racing NSW Stewards last week after his greyhound Lika Jay Jay returned a positive swab sample to the prohibited substance 5beta-androstane-3alpha, 17beta-diol, a metabolite of testosterone, at a concentration of greater than 10ng/ml at Wentworth Park on Monday January 12, 2015.
Field explained that the reason for the positive sample was that Lika Jay Jay had been mistaken for another black bitch in his kennel when administered a dose of Testaprop by veterinarian Peter Yore the day prior to the race. This supported the evidence provided by Dr Adam Cawley from the Australian Racing Forensic Laboratory (ARFL).
Field pleaded guilty to a breach of GAR 83(2)(a) in that he presented Lika Jay Jay for the race in question in a state which was not free of a prohibited substance. He was subsequently disqualified for a period of nine months, with Lika Jay Jay also scratched from the race in question.
Queensland
Heath Ardle faced Racing Queensland (RQ) stewards earlier this month after his greyhound Blue Houdini returned a urine sample showing the presence of Pentobarbitone, a short acting barbiturate, after it won at Townsville on February 17, 2015.
The sample was confirmed by the ARFL for both the urine sample and the control sample and evidence was taken from Ardle, veterinarian Dr Des Viero and Dr Karen Caldwell, Senior Veterinarian at the Racing Service Centre.
It was established that there was non-compliance associated with the sample taken from the greyhound and, after considering that the substance found was also present in the control sample, Stewards decided to take no further action as they could not be satisfied that Ardle had breached GAR 83(2)(a) relating to presenting a greyhound free of a prohibited substance.
Ashley Bock fined
Trainer Ashley Bock faced Racing Queensland stewards for a breach of GAR 83(2)(a) after his greyhound Global Deejay returned a positive urine sample to the prohibited substances Caffeine, Theophyline, Paraxanthine and Theobromine after it competed at Ipswich on March 27, 2015.
Bock was found guilty and stewards subsequently fined him $1500, with Global Deejay disqualified from the event in question.
Bock was advised of his appeal rights and given three months to pay the fine.
GreyhoundRacing Thats old News Matee
GreyhoundRacing Thats old News Matee