ABC The Drum: "Cobalt five" called by RV Stewards to show cause

The frayed and fragile reputation of Melbourne's Spring Racing Carnival hangs on the outcome of hearings in Melbourne today into the "Cobalt five", writes Michael Hutak.

Cobalt, the meteoric element the smarties swear can send a racehorse past its rivals like a hurtling comet, continues to cut a swathe through the ranks of the Australian turf.

A recent rash of charges, hearings and detections related to the apparent cobalt doping of racehorses has left a stench of corruption hanging over the game's already ragged reputation. It's been a busy time of late in cobalt world:

-- Read the rest of our article over at ABC's The Drum

ABC The Drum: Sadistic side of greyhound racing must change

A Queensland inquiry has offered the greyhound industry a last gasp chance to survive after accusations of "animal cruelty on a scale never seen before". But there's reason to be sceptical things will change, writes Michael Hutak.

Some time around 1015AD King Canute was such a greyhound fan he introduced laws in ye olde England that rendered the breed exclusive to nobility, banning his celtic subjects, serfs and commoners from using them for hunting and gaming. Thus the "sport" of coursing emerged, whereby gentlemen owners of two greyhounds would wager on whose dog could best chase and catch a live hare. Apparently, this is a noble and pleasurable pursuit.

 -- Read the rest of our story at ABC's The Drum

ABC The Drum: Cobalt from the blue: time to register racing's vets

The horse racing industry is facing yet another doping scandal, so if the main players are serious about cleaning up this mess and their reputation then it's time to register the vets, writes Michael Hutak.

Like all organised sports, doping scandals are nothing new in racing. Go fasts, go slows, "elephant juice", EPO, steroids and now Cobalt - the headlines of the last week have been both breathless and curious. ...

This is the shadowy end of the racing game, where the perps dress in lab coats rather than silks. Returning home, he would administer the latest fad to his select group of clients - trainers who consistently showed remarkable talent for turning average types into winners. Horses that would return from a spell "jumping out of their skin". Horses said to have "grown a leg" after staging form reversals.

-- Read the rest of our article over at ABC's The Drum

ABC The Drum: Cobalt from the blue, time to register racing's vets

The horse racing industry is facing yet another doping scandal, so if the main players are serious about cleaning up this mess and their reputation then it's time to register the vets, writes Michael Hutak.

Like all organised sports, doping scandals are nothing new in racing. Go fasts, go slows, "elephant juice", EPO, steroids and now Cobalt - the headlines of the last week have been both breathless and curious.

The stories around the abuse of cobalt chloride, first in harness racing and now in racing, both here and abroad, have been ongoing for more than two years. The difference this week is three of the country's highest profile trainers now have prima facie cases to answer.

...read the rest of our story over at ABC's The Drum.

All The Pretty Horses: "Wastage" in the thoroughbred industry

From the winner's circle at Royal Randwick to "the doggers", the fate of thousands of thoroughbreds every year is a grim tale, writes Susan Chenery*

Oh what a swell party. Diamonds catch the sun as glossy women in heels sink into the grass. Across the the emerald lawn they come bringing convivial laughter and champagne. Flaunted wealth and high fashion. Feathers, sequins and furs. Men in sharp suits and expensive sunglasses. Evening wear in the afternoon.

The bright brilliant colours of the jockeys' silks. The sleek shining horses coming down the straight. The thrill as the members at Royal Randwick gather at the finish line to watch them pass. So elegantly social; such easy entitlement. In the mounting yard the gleaming horses prance; muscular elite athletes, polished to perfection. The afternoon wears on, the bets are laid, the horses come thundering, the champagne keeps flowing. Fortunes are made and lost on days like this. But all this glamour in the members enclosure at Randwick's new $152 million grandstand masks racing's darkest secret.

ABC The Drum: This Spring, it's about the horses

"After all the chaos, scandal and sensational headlines, after the breaches of public trust and disappointment, allegations of corruption, intimidation and worse, comes a sense of relief born of exhaustion. Not exactly calm, more an absence of tumult. We're not just talking about the lucky country and its brave new government. We're talking about a punting nation and its Spring Racing Carnival..."

...read the rest of our story over at ABC's The Drum.

ABC The Drum: Singogaite saga: say hello to the 'bad guys'

"Gambling and horse racing has always been a mass-subculture in Australia. This is why the Waterhouse-Singleton saga has struck such a chord; it is a story that defines Modern Australia... "

...read the rest of our story over at ABC's The Drum

ABC The Drum: Where is the joy?

Spat, fracas, brouhaha - whatever colourful epithet you choose - Saturday's spectacular public bust-up of John Singleton and Gai Waterhouse, horse racing's "odd couple", has been hugged by the media like a long-lost friend...

          ...read the rest of our article over at the ABC's The Drum.

Singleton-Waterhouse brouhaha recalls the famous case of Fair Patton.

The Singleton/Waterhouse brouhaha jogged our memory and had us trawling The Gadfly archives from The Sun-Herald for this article from 1992:

"THE sad death of veteran trainer Vic Thompson Snr revived memories of one of the most famous episodes in Australian turf history. When Fair Patton won the 1964 Brisbane Cup, owner Claude Hawke strode into the winner's circle and declared what a wonderful trainer Thompson was. But only a matter of minutes later, he walked up to an elated Thompson and declared he was taking the horse from Vic and would, henceforth, train it himself. The reason for the shock move was not publicly revealed for another nine months, until it finally exploded into a major court case. In a nutshell, Hawke had discovered that Thompson tipped Fair Patton to a man later described in court as "a punter named Tyler." Hawke not only immediately took the horse from Thompson, but then refused to pay him a 10 per cent trainer's commission of 1,000 pounds for the nag's victory - and Thompson duly took Hawke to court over it.

Godolphin trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni banned 8 years for administering steroids

Newsmaker: Al Zarooni

Former trainer Mahmood Al Zarooni has been suspended for 8-years by the UK's British Horseracing Authority's (BHA) disciplinary panel after being found guilty of administering anabolic steroids to horses at Godolphin's Moulton Stables, reports racingpost.com. As a result, "15 horses have been suspended from racing for six months as it emerged that Al Zarooni administered the banned substances with two foremen and a vet's assistant." Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford, speaking on behalf of Al Zarooni, issued an apology "to Sheikh Mohammed, all at Godolphin and fans of British racing". Australian-born BHA chief executive Paul Bittar commented in a press release: "The panel has determined that the drugs were administered on Al Zarooni's instructions. This case has shown there is no place for performance-enhancing drugs in our sport and we have a robust testing system." Bittar praised the cooperation by Godolphin's head Sheikh Mohammed to ensure a "rapid resolution" to the saga which has the potential to tarnish British racing's reputation. Australian racing luminary, Richard Freedman, commented on Twitter:

"Under current Australian racing policies regarding non-raceday steroid testing, Al Zarooni would not have been charged."

Racing NSW Chief Steward Ray Murrihy responded to the news by calling for a debate on the use of Anobolic Steriods in Australian Racing. WITH SOURCE: Breedingracing.com