23 September 2015

Did Vic Police rewrite the rules for Danny Nikolic?

Under the banner "Natural Justice Denied?", Costa Rolfe has given Danny Nikolic free rein in a "news" story on punters.com.au. Rolfe quotes him thus:
“The Police Commissioner has given me no reason for the exclusion order except that it's in the public interest. If he has any proof that I am of poor character, why doesn't he produce it?” Nikolic said.
“This exclusion order is a clear attempt to hinder any future license application under racing jurisdictions. 
“I believe it's a clear abuse of his discretionary powers and a tactic to further negatively affect public perception of me by linking me with organised crime figures without justification or rationale.”
Rolfe then paraphrased Nikolic, asking "how Racing Victoria and Victoria Police could essentially rewrite the rules in order to extend his ban beyond its original term."

Huge claims.


01 September 2015

ABC Online: Bart Cummings: Farewell to the Australian turf's last household name

We all know there will never be another James Bartholomew Cummings.

We knew that by the mid-60s, the late 70s, the late 80s, and at the turn of the millennium. We knew it every Cup day for over five decades, as we scanned the field looking for Bart's runner to place our once-a-year flutter. We knew it in 2008 when Viewed, a 40-1 outsider, won Bart his 12th Melbourne Cup to the surprise of precisely no one, some 50 years after he'd saddled his first runner in the great race.
Just as we knew it yesterday when his son Anthony took to Twitter to tell the world his father had gone. I say "we" with confidence, because Bart was the Australian turf's last surviving national figure, its last household name.