Trainers vent anger at costly cobalt win
RACING Victoria has been left with a $6 million legal bill, no scalps and a litigation threat after trainers Mark Kavanagh and Danny O’Brien were cleared of cobalt cheating.
It took less than five minutes for the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s Justice Greg Garde to put an end to 26 months of heartache and uncertainty for the trainers yesterday when he upheld their appeals against careercrippling disqualifications.
O’Brien had been outed for four years and Kavanagh for three by the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board.
Garde’s finding that neither trainer had knowingly cheated was met with gasps of relief and tears from the trainers’ families and then both relief and anger from the trainers, who are now considering legal action against RV.
Interim chief executive Giles Thomson said RV was “surprised and disappointed’’ by the finding and defended RV’s right to prosecute the trainers for cobalt readings up to 100 times above naturally occurring levels.
Thompson did not rule out an appeal to the Supreme Court.
Garde said the testing procedure between April 2014 and August 25, 2015, by RV’s lab, Racing Analytical Services Ltd, had been a “substantial departure’’ from proper protocols.
The Australian Trainers Association has demanded a “full and independent review’’ of RV’s integrity unit in light of yesterday’s decision.
The protocol breach, as well as O’Brien’s accusations of “bullying and vilification’’ against some RV staff, is likely to be the catalyst for legal action against RV from trainers.
O’Brien said he and Kavanagh had insisted their innocence from the start of a 26month process that had decimated both stables.
Kavanagh said resurrecting his career would be “difficult’’ despite being cleared. O’Brien said Justice Garde had “thrown a light on the behaviour of Racing Victoria, the breaches of the rules that they in fact have engineered throughout this process”.
“And that’s probably been the most disappointing thing – the bullying and vilification of both Mark and I and our families by some people has been quite incredible,” he added.
“Midway through this, Racing Victoria brought on a show-cause hearing to try to take our (training) licences away before any charges had been heard.
“We were then subjected to a show trial at the RAD Board, where we were not even allowed to cross-examine the witness.
“It’s time that (Racing Minister) Martin Pakula took a hard look at what is going on in the racing industry in this state.’’
Pakula said “if he (O’Brien) is calling for me as minister to discipline or take some action against the chief steward (Terry Bailey), that’s not an invitation I’ll be taking up”.
Yesterday’s decision may create a ripple effect of reversed convictions and abandoned cobalt cases in Victoria.