Harness racing cracks the whip on integrity
Scandal after scandal has rocked the southern heartland of the sport but a new leadership team is focused on a fresh start, writes Martin van Beynen.
They could be two old men discussing great horses over a beer in the members lounge at Addington Raceway. Don Bates, in his 70s, is quietly spoken and retiring, Warwick Gendall, approaching 80, is confident and talkative.
In fact, the setting is more formal. Gendall, a retired High Court judge, is chairing a panel of the Judicial Control Authority (JCA) – a tribunal that adjudicates charges laid by racing’s investigation and prosecution arm, the Racing Integrity Unit (RIU).
Bates has been brought in to read a statement about the impact of frauds committed by young trainer Mitchell Kerr, who the panel has found guilty of selling a non-existent horse, over-selling shares in horses and charging owners for insurance not taken out.
Gendall will go on to talk about integrity, the privilege of holding a licence, the profession of training horses and the responsibilities that entails.
The bespectacled Bates, a former chartered accountant who has bred standardbred horses and been part of the harness racing scene in the South Island for more than 50 years, says he regards Kerr as a friend. He loaned him money and gave him horses to train.
Kerr, in the grip of a $1 million gambling addiction, cheated him of about $30,000, but worse for Bates was being robbed of the enjoyment of racing. His trust in trainers was in tatters, and he felt unwelcome at the races because of flak towards him over informing the RIU instead of keeping it in-house.
Bates was not the only one hurting. In an industry based on integrity and its participants upholding certain standards to retain continued public confidence, Kerr’s misdeeds are damaging.
The young trainer, who has handed in his licence, is waiting to learn if the JCA will ban him for life.
Every industry has its bad apples, but harness racing appears to have more corrosive problems, most of which appear to be centred in Canterbury.
This is unsurprising in one respect. Canterbury is harness racing’s most active area. The local industry employs about 1700 people and injects about $200m into the Canterbury/West Coast economy.
That still doesn’t fully explain why harness racing in Canterbury seems to have a monopoly on scandals.
A longtime industry insider, who did not want to be named, says cheating has always been a problem in the industry but can’t remember a time like the last few years. He suggests it’s because everyone is struggling.
Canterbury is certainly no stranger to racing scandals. In the 1990s an epidemic of milk shaking – dosing horses with sodium bicarbonate (to inhibit the uptake of lactic acid) – plagued the industry and the blue magic saga, where horses were doped with propantheline bromide (used to increase blood flow to the muscles), rolled out on the flat plains of Canterbury in 2004.
The 2018 police investigation into racefixing – Operation Inca – centred on trainers, punters and drivers in Canterbury and prosecutions remain before the courts.
Last year one of harness racing’s young champions, Woodend-based Matt Anderson, was found guilty in the Christchurch District Court of assaulting and strangling his partner.
Anderson received an automatic twoyear ban from racecourses as a result, but that did not dissuade Ken Spicer, the former chair of Harness Racing New
Zealand, from exploring an exemption so Anderson could get a training licence.
Small transgressions can make big impressions. In January Blair Orange, New Zealand’s top harness racing driver, and Woodend trainer and driver Bob Butt failed pre-race alcohol tests. Butt was 21⁄2 times over the permissible limit.
The two most recent cases of doping have also occurred in Canterbury.
In March last year, Nigel McGrath, one of harness racing’s star trainers, was caught trying to tube a horse with sodium bicarbonate, three hours before the horse was due to race. He was thrown out of the industry for eight years.
In late February, RIU investigators who were monitoring young Woodend trainer Jesse James Alford, allegedly watched him inject two horses in the neck and observed a failed attempt to tube another. His case is yet to be heard by the JCA.
Alford has been a trainer for only two seasons. In 39 starts he has had eight firsts, six seconds and five thirds – a phenomenal record.
As Canterbury harness racing works to rebuild its image, major changes in New Zealand racing have occurred.
They are designed to help stem a long decline for which there are many reasons, including the pressure on traditional leisure pursuits by changing lifestyles and demographics.
With less money gambled on harness racing, prizemoney has decreased, owners get lower returns and fields are smaller. The squeeze on the industry has been exacerbated by New Zealanders increasingly gambling with overseas operators who often pay more on the same race.
Harness racing gets most of its funds from allocations made from the profits of betting at the TAB. For the past 10 years that allocation has been sitting around the $40m mark, not nearly enough to keep the industry healthy.
The Racing Industry Act, which came into force in August 2020, takes the responsibility for putting on events away from the TAB and devolving the functions to the racing codes.
The act also establishes a new integrity system, run by the Racing Integrity Board, which has yet to be established.
Harness Racing NZ has also changed its crew at the helm. New chief executive Gary Woodham, a former general manager of TAB’s customer and channel section, started in January, and former school principal John Coulam took over as the chairman of the Harness Racing NZ board in November last year.
They have promised to put integrity and zero tolerance of rule-breaking at the forefront of their approach. Both own harness racing horses. Woodham owns top-shelf horses while Coulam has more grassroots interests.
Coulam, who spent 17 years as principal of Marian Catholic School in Hamilton and is now education manager for the Catholic diocese of Hamilton, says he became hooked on harness racing when, as a 16-year-old, he went to the 1975 Inter-dominions at Alexandra Park to watch Young Quinn win.
He bought a share in his first horse in his first year of teaching and now has shares in 10 horses who are with seven different trainers, each of whom give him a different perspective on the industry.
‘‘They are not champion horses, but racing is a great way of meeting people. I love the horses and I love the people involved. They are honest, hardworking, and it’s something different to the professional field I work in.’’
On a night at the trots he bets about $20 to $30 on a race but doesn’t consider himself a punter.
He admits misdeeds in Canterbury are a bad look for the area but doesn’t believe the offending is disproportionate.
‘‘You have to remember it’s the stronghold of harness racing. It’s got about 55 per cent of the horses.
‘‘We are still lingering in the shadow of Inca, and we are in the dark. It may all amount to nothing, and we’ve had our brand, our reputation, dragged through the mud for years.
‘‘Any sport has to have integrity. I work for the Catholic Church. I base everything I do around integrity and values, honesty, justice and responsibility. We need to have that instilled in our participants as well. We set the rules, and we expect the rules to be adhered to.’’
He wants to combine the tough approach to cheating with a better career path for drivers and trainers, including better training and education and fair employment agreements. He worries the North Island has only nine junior drivers.
‘‘It goes back to trainers accepting the responsibility and not everyone is picking up that responsibility. At a board level I’m asking what are we doing to make it an attractive career.’’
Coulam says he didn’t seek the chairman role. When asked if his background in Catholic education was seen as a way of stiffening the moral fibre of the industry, he says he doesn’t know.
‘‘It might be that I don’t live in Canterbury. I’m seen to be removed.’’
The industry has to look closely at venues and racing dates to ensure it is getting the best crowds and the best return for owners and others. For instance Forbury Park, the main racing venue in Dunedin, is ‘‘surplus infrastructure’’, he says.
Venues need investment and the racing codes need to work together to ensure their meetings do not clash. Australian events have to be in the equation too.
‘‘There is no silver bullet sitting there for us. It’s going to be hard work.’’
‘‘There is no silver bullet sitting there for us. It’s going to be hard work.’’
John Coulam Chairman, Harness Racing NZ board