TRACK RATING CALL – MAKE IT SIMPLE
April 21, 2021 5:58 pm
By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor
Key figures have urged for a scrapping of our embattled track racing system, days after a
Australian Trainers Association chief executive
Andrew Nicholl and Flemington track manager
Liam O’Keeffe believe a return to four track ratings – fast, good, slow and heavy – would rein in continual grumblings.
Racing Victoria chief steward
Robert Cram said he also would prefer the four-rating model to the system implemented nation-wide a decade ago, with tracks rated 1-10, from a fast 1 and a heavy 10.
Racing Victoria Senior Stipendiary Steward Robert Cram is seen during P.B.Lawrence Stakes Day at Caulfield on August 18, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images)
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SIX BALLARAT RIDERS FAIL DOPE TEST
April 1, 2021 10:28 am
By Matt Stewart, Racing Editor
Six track riders, including two
well-known jockeys, have been
Ballarat today as
six of Ballarat’s 40 track riders were stood down.
Racing Victoria chief steward Robert Cram said he was “disappointed” with the stunning number of track staff who had returned irregularities to illegal drugs after random testing of 60 riders.
A leading Ballarat trainer said the positive tests revealed “a really bad culture” of drugs in Ballarat, that had spread to the local racing industry.
“It’s a real worry,” the trainer said. “I can’t speak for other parts of the state but it seems to be a real problem up here and it’s becoming an issue in racing as well.”