FORMER MAREEBA HORSE TRAINER CONSIDERS FIGHTING $30,000 FINE

Ex-Far North trainer may appeal strangles case ruling

FORMER Mareeba trainer John O’Shea has not ruled out lodging an appeal after he was fined a total of $30,000 for his role in the Godolphin strangles inquiry.

O’Shea read a statement in submissions yesterday pleading with stewards not to ban him from the industry as it would have a huge impact on not only himself but the staff of his stable at Randwick, which only started operating in recent weeks.

O’Shea, Godolphin Australia’s former head trainer, was fined $20,000 for giving false and/or misleading evidence and $10,000 for being a party to former Godolphin Australia managing director, Henry Plumptre committing a breach under AR64K (2).

O’Shea (right) said he would consider an appeal against the $20,000 fine for misleading and/ or false evidence.

“I was disappointed from the outset to be charged with regards to the false evidence,” he said.

“I’m still disappointed but all I will say is Mr (Marc) Van Gestel and the stewards’ panel have been very thorough and fair … and that’s all you can ask.

“I think I will let the dust settle and it doesn’t sit well with me the whole false evidence thing.”

Earlier this month, Plumptre was fined $15,000 for not reporting the strangles case to stewards as soon as Godolphin racehorse Polemic tested positive to the highly contagious infectious disease of the upper respiratory tract last August.

O’Shea’s lawyer Matthew Stirling argued that a fine and not a ban was the right penalty for O’Shea. He said the false or misleading evidence found by stewards was at the low end of that charge and said a fine “somewhere up to half of what Plumptre was fined” would be the right penalty for the other charge of being a party to Plumptre committing a breach under AR64K (2).

O’Shea maintains he only had one conversation about the issue with Plumptre and Godolphin vet Dr Trevor Robson at Godolphin’s Osborne Park headquarters in early August last year where he insists he wasn’t told of a positive test but only that Polemic was exhibiting symptoms of strangles.

Dr Robson told stewards he had two conversations with O’Shea about the positive strangles test, one on August 5 (Friday morning) along with Plumptre, and the other a day earlier at Godolphin’s Crown Lodge facility (Thursday afternoon).

Dr Robson claims he informed O’Shea about the positive test firstly on August 4 after being made aware of it by another Godolphin vet at the time, Dr Graham Adams.

“There’s no doubt in my mind (I told O’Shea about the positive test) and that was the point of the (August 4) conversation,” Dr Robson said.

O’Shea emphatically denies the August 4 conversation with Dr Robson took place.

Dr Adams couldn’t recall telling Dr Robson of the positive test on August 4 but Dr Adams’ phone records show a 16-minute phone call was held between him and Dr Robson at 2.09pm on Thursday, August 4.

Evidence submitted during the inquiry also claimed an email was sent at 1.41pm on August 4 to a group of Godolphin employees, including O’Shea and Dr Robson from the lab confirming the positive strangles test to Polemic.

O’Shea, who has returned to life as a trainer in his own right at Randwick, maintains he never read any email confirming a positive test to Polemic because the horse was out spelling and it was his normal procedure to only read emails regarding test results from horses in work at the time.

O’Shea has always maintained he never knew of the positive test at the time.