Drugs - for horses, not humans - and the lack of funding for efforts to detect them are the most important issues facing racing, according to Terry Bailey, the Racing Victoria chief steward.
"The amount of money we spend on drug research in Victoria equates to about the value of the Melbourne Cup trophy," Bailey said. "In this day and age, it isn't enough. We want an even playing field. People don't get up at three o'clock in the morning, seven days a week, to be beaten by a cheat."
That's surprising. I had the impression Australia led the way in the detection of illegal substances. We have been doing it longer and getting better results, from caffeine to elephant juice. Souped-up horses have been identified decades before laboratories were locating cyclists and swimmers fuelled by EPO. So good has been our technology some "performance-enhancers" that are hardly capable of making a flea jump have been traced.
Bailey, though, is on the battlefield. "I'm concerned about whether we are in front of the game as far as the drugs that are out there," he explained. "We could be doing it better ..."
Bailey took over from Des Gleeson in one of the industry's hottest seats a few months back after joining the Racing Victoria stewards' panel in 2005.
"Prior to that I was chairman of stewards in Harness Racing Victoria for 3 years following being chief stipe at the Gold Coast for five years. I commenced my cadetship under John Schreck with the Australian Jockey Club in 1986, after which John sent me out to the Central Districts to be offsider to Ned Dougherty."
The stint with Dougherty, a former jockey, was character-building, and on Saturday, Bailey will officiate at his first Caulfield Cup, traditionally rougher and tougher than most group 1s. The run to the first turn creates more traffic snarls than Bondi Road on a hot day - and that is only the early stages. "I've given it some thought," he said. "I'll be speaking to the riders before the race, but it won't be with the view of saying what you can't do, more along the lines [that] if you are found guilty of careless riding there will be no leniency with penalty. We spoke to the riders last year before the Caulfield Cup. To my mind, it's not effective. Glen Boss caused interference in the first 200 metres [last year]." Other major problems in racing?
"Personally, I have concerns about penalties, particularly with the charge of 'undertaking all reasonable and permissible measures' [suspect ride]," Bailey said. "It was a fairly serious charge 15 years ago. It's fairly serious now but the penalties, in my opinion, don't seem to fit the crime."
On the "Underbelly" influence on racing? Retired judge Gordon Lewis, in an Australian Crime Commission assessment, maintained criminal influence was rampant on the Victorian turf, calling for wider drug-testing and a crackdown on rogue bookmakers.
"Wherever there is the chance to turn money over, racecourses or casinos, a window of opportunity exists [for money laundering]," Bailey said. "But I'm not sure the responsibility lies with the bookmaker as to where the money comes from. It's out of bounds of the rules of racing we control. However, our industry, across the board, is one of best policed. I don't see a lot of evidence of skulduggery." The use of the whip?
"We have come a long way. Less whip is used these days. In general, since riders have been going to Hong Kong, they have brought back a different style. Damien Oliver isn't a big whip user now, and it came from his international experience. James Winks was a classic example at Caulfield on Saturday on Belong To Many. The horse was starting to curl up over the concluding stages. He put the whip away and Belong To Many responded. I'll be surprised if we don't see more changes in the next 12 months. It was the No.1 topic at the recent national stewards conference. There's a raft of changes on the drawing board."
Should two-year-olds in Melbourne have to barrier trial before they race, as they do in Sydney? "My initial view is that youngsters having their first metropolitan start at least should [officially] barrier trial," Bailey said. "The owners' association aren't in favour. Trainers have mixed views. The customer, the punter, is entitled to it. At Caulfield they have jump-outs every Tuesday. These horses are doing the same thing as barrier trials, but the public don't have access to them." Irrigated tracks?
"A classic example was Caulfield on Saturday. My view is the club was 100 per cent spot on. The grass was longer than I've ever seen it. But there is three meetings there in a week. Due to the length of the grass, it held the moisture. Having said that, there was no bias. The trainers said: 'We'll have a horse tomorrow.' The jockeys said it was perfect. The breeding of horses has changed over the years. We haven't got the tough horses that can run on bitumen."
On Bailey's journey up the stewards' ladder from Rockhampton, where he also part-timed on the greyhounds, memorable quotes included: "John Schreck once gave me a spray and said, 'If I drop dead tomorrow, they'll push me under the running rail and run the next [race] on time, so don't think you're irreplaceable."'
And Ned Dougherty to a jockey at Orange when they started to request an official video viewing before lodging a protest: "If I gave you a clip over the ear, you'd know it was me, wouldn't ya?"
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter