Racing probe starts
ALMOST 30 weeks after float driver Greg Nelligan was allegedly caught doping Lovani at Flemington, the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board will today hear the sensational details behind Australia’s biggest racing corruption inquiry.
Group 1-winning trainers Robert Smerdon, Tony Vasil and Stuart Webb, fellow trainers Liam Birchley and Trent Pennuto and former Aquanita employees Greg and Denise Nelligan and Danny Garland face 271 counts of alleged cheating over a seven-year period.
Investigators suspect the 2015 Melbourne Cup could have been compromised with illegal bicarbonate drenches and top-ups.
The contraband drenches were allegedly used to smother lactic acid, boosting stamina.
Stewards believe the topups were administered on more than 30 metropolitan and country tracks across Victoria, Tasmania, NSW and South Australia.
Text messages exclusively obtained by News Corp indicate many of the top-ups were administered within minutes of horses competing, often in horse urinals or floats on the way to the track.
The investigation, which started on October 7 — the day champion Winx won the Turnbull Stakes at Flemington — has since spread into four separate Australian racing jurisdictions.
The probe involves some of Victoria’s most successful horses, including Oaks winner Mosheen and champion jumper Black And Bent.
Horses, trainers and owners in Japan and Europe have also become embroiled in the case.
The “Aquanita Eight” have been charged with being “party to the administration of alkalising agents and/or medications to a horse or horses on a race day” between June 2010 and October 2017.
Charges were laid by Racing Victoria stewards after interviews with the accused and the seizure of thousands of allegedly incriminating texts from Greg Nelligan’s mobile phone.
Those texts allegedly exposed a shadowy web of longterm cheating in Group 1 races, often under the noses of officials.
Smerdon and the Nelligans will not appear at the hearing, but Smerdon will be represented by barrister Tim McHenry.
The Nelligans have entered a “no contest” plea. Charges against them will be heard in their absence. The couple has already been warned off all Victorian courses and stables and face the prospect of a life ban.
Greg Nelligan faces 123 counts of being “party to the administration of alkalising agents and/or medications to a horse or horses on a race day.” He also has been charged with backing horses to lose, illegal use of medication and possession of a “prohibited substance or a syringe, needle, nasogastric tube or other instrument.”
Smerdon faces 115 counts despite a bid last week to have charges against him quashed.
Smerdon last month retired from training after previously stepping down as an Aquanita director. News Corp understands Smerdon’s interview evidence was regarded by investigators as implausible to the point of being insulting.
The 63-year-old, if found guilty, is likely to be rubbed out for between eight and 10 years , possibly longer.