Licence Return Uncertain For Disqualified
- Monday, 21 July 2014 08:20
Chief steward Terry Bailey will be happy to test Racing Victoria's new hardline policy on returning licences to disqualified persons if a legal challenge arises.
The RV board resolved at a meeting on Thursday to force those disqualified to meet stringent criteria before they are approved to return to the industry.
RV's licensing sub-committee and integrity council have the power to review any disqualified person's request to get their licence back before providing a recommendation to the organisation's board.
Warrnambool horseman Jarrod McLean was relicensed last week after serving a six-month disqualification but Bailey said not all applications would succeed.
"We have a criteria there and if they don't meet that criteria, and we knock back their application, we'll go off to VCAT (Victoria's Civil and Administrative Tribunal) and argue our case that they don't meet these criteria," Bailey said.
"Ultimately, to put our money where our mouth is, so to speak, we are going to end up at VCAT with an application one day and we'll just have to have that fight.
"If we lose, we lose."
Bailey said the Australian Racing Board's introduction of disqualifications, rather than suspensions that do not require the cancellation of a licence, as minimum penalties for serious rule breaches would create the need for close scrutiny of those that want to resume from bans.
RV chairman Rob Roulston said factors such as a jockey or trainer's previous record, the evidence submitted in their application and other factors would come into play in each case.
Meanwhile, Bailey hailed a drop in race day treatment breaches detected as an endorsement of race day stable inspections, which he said caused a change in culture among trainers.
Bailey and the Compliance Assurance Team have conducted more than 600 stable inspections this season and detected only six instances of trainers treating their horses outside the rules, which is half of the previous year's figure.
