Integrity unit to get boost
THE Queensland Racing Integrity Commission will hire two more police investigators and increase spending on drug testing.
The decision coincided with QRIC’s first prosecution under new match fixing laws, which was heard in the Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday.
QRIC commissioner Ross Barnett released the organisation’s first annual report this week and pinpointed the first race fixing charges in the harness code under the match fixing laws.
“The arrest of three people in our first year for systemic race fixing in the harness industry demonstrates both the need for the laws and the commission’s determination to ensure they’re enforced,” he said.
“Furthermore, our partnership with the Queensland Police Service through the Racing Crime Squad resulted in 40 charges being laid against a total of 22 offenders.”
Barnett said the Racing Crime Squad would expand from four to six members and the commission would also increase the use of body cameras.
“QRIC will invest more than $7.75 million over four years to support the Racing Science Centre’s Capital Acquisition Strategic Plan,” he said.
“This will see new advanced technology acquired to enable both an increase in samples collected for testing and enhanced scope of testing.”
Barnett said 99.6 per cent of the 19,000-plus swabs analysed by the QRIC’s Racing Science Centre returned negative results.
It yesterday’s court case, former harness racing driver Barton Cockburn was fined $5000 for fixing two races at a Queensland track in late 2016.
Cockburn pleaded guilty in court to two counts of facilitating match fixing and one count of disclosing knowledge.
The court heard Cockburn arranged for himself to win a race at Albion Park on November 5 and for another driver to win a race at the same track on November 12.
Prizemoney from each race was $7000 but the court heard individual drivers only receive about $350 of the winnings.
The court heard Cockburn, who was once considered one of the top five professional drivers in the state, had his racing licence suspended indefinitely as a result of being charged.
Convictions were not recorded for the three offences.