A relieved trainer Ricky Maund has been fined $10,000 for raceday treatment of a horse but Victorian officials have warned he could be one of the last offenders to escape a stiffer penalty.
Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey said Maund could have “slipped through the break” as he predicted a much tougher stance in the future.
The Cranbourne trainer was fined on Monday for treating Timely Truce at his Corinella stables on November 10.
Timely Truce had been scheduled to contest the Hilton Stakes at Flemington that day.
Maund’s barrister, Matt Stirling, argued that Maund was in the same situation as prominent Caulfield trainer Robert Smerdon who was also fined $10,000 recently for raceday treatment of Shewan on Caulfield Guineas day.
Stewards said that, unlike Smerdon, Maund was the only person who could have administered an injection to the neck of his horse.
Members of the Racing Victoria Compliance Assurance Team raided Maund’s stables and had shown film to the inquiry of what they said was fresh blood on Timely Truce on the morning of the race.
But Stirling said RV’s case against Maund was circumstantial and there was no direct evidence of treatment administered by the trainer.
Bailey said the work of the CAT team had prompted a national push against illegal activity in the racing industry and it was likely fines for such offences would be shortly replaced by either suspensions or disqualifications
Earlier a similar inquiry into Cranbourne trainer Jim Conlan and his horse Rekindled Interest was adjourned with a decision due later this week on whether the case will proceed.
CAT members found a syringe in a bucket labelled with the horse’s name before he ran unplaced in the Turnbull Stakes on October 6.
Stewards said DNA tests on the blood in the syringe proved it belonged to Rekindled Interest’s and not another horse.
Conlan had argued that Rekindled Interest had been treated legally the previous day and another horse treated on the Saturday.
