‘Urgent action’: Tasmania’s Office of Racing Integrity blocks Victorian trainer from racing in Tasmania

by Admin
June 13, 2024

Tasmania’s director of racing has moved to block Victorian trainer Robbie Walters from fielding horses in harness meets this weekend, following a direct request from the state’s racing minister.

In state parliament on Thursday morning, minister Jane Howlett confirmed she had written to the Director of Racing, Robin Thompson, asking him to take “urgent action” in regards to Mr Walters’s application for a Tasmanian trainers licence and to reject nominations of Walters-trained horses for meets on Friday and Sunday.

She told parliament that Mr Thompson had granted the request and confirmed that a panel would be convened next week to determine Mr Walters’s licence application.

On Monday, ORI granted Mr Walters permission to operate as “Trainer A” in Tasmania for a month under his Victorian licence, while it considered whether to grant him an ongoing licence.

It prompted 16 leading harness racing trainers and drivers — including the chairs of the Tasmanian and Launceston trotting and pacing clubs — to issue a joint statement on Tuesday and express concern over the decision.

“We find it unbelievable that the stewards and the director of racing have allowed this situation to occur,” it reads.

“We call on the Minister for Racing to intervene to have this decision reversed.”

Robbie Walters after a race at Kilmore in Victoria last year.(Supplied: Kilmore Racing Club)

Tasmanian Trotting Club chairperson Noel Salter said it was “clearly not good for the integrity of the industry”.

The Breeders Owners Trainers and Reinspersons Association (BOTRA) described it as “deeply concerning”.

“ORI’s approach to this matter is at odds with our own higher standards and expectations,” a BOTRA statement reads.

Yole, Walters attracted steward attention in Victoria

Concern from the industry relates to Mr Walters’s close association with the Yole Racing stable, and the transfer of horses from Wayne Yole — father of trainer Ben Yole — to Walters.

Tasracing strengthened its “equity in participation” rules in April, meaning horses trained by the same private training venue cannot make up more than 50 per cent of starters in a race.

It followed a damning report by integrity expert Ray Murrihy, who found instances of race fixing and team driving — with the domination of fields seen as a key factor.

Allegations of team driving involving Ben Yole stables were investigated in a report by Ray Murrihy.(Facebook: Yole Harness Racing Stables)

But two months later, 20 horses under the name of Wayne Yole — whose son Ben’s stables are central to the conduct allegations — were transferred to Mr Walters.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing but critics say there could be a perception of domination of the field given their combined horses made up at least 50 per cent of the field in four of the eight races at Launceston on Friday, before the Director of Racing intervened.

The Office of Racing Integrity (ORI) confirmed that Mr Walters applied to have the 20 horses transferred into his name from Wayne Yole on Monday, and it was approved on Tuesday.

Director of racing Robin Thompson said this was approved because the facilities of Mr Walters and Mr Yole were not seen to be connected.

“There is no known association between the Yole and Walters training facilities, hence they are both considered private facilities under the Tasracing Equity in Participation policy,” he said.

The decision to grant the transferral of horses to Mr Walters has been heavily criticised by other Tasmanian industry participants.

Participants say harness integrity suffering again

According to a stewards report from the Launceston Pacing Club on May 12, Mr Walters failed to provide a urine sample when requested by stewards prior to competing in that night”s meet.

The Office of Racing Integrity has since confirmed that a sample taken from Mr Walters the following day tested positive for a prohibited substance, with a stewards inquiry to occur.

In May 2022, Mr Walters was driving a Ben Yole-trained horse at a meet at Echuca when he was found, by the Victorian Racing Tribunal, to have allowed another Yole horse to pass him and win.

And in April last year, stewards reports contained allegations that Mr Walters engaged in team driving during a race at Ballarat by calling out to the driver of another Ben Yole-trained horse multiple times.

Mr Walters and Ben Yole were both fined in September after two horses tested positive for arsenic above allowable levels. Mr Yole was the trainer, and the horses were in Mr Walters’s care.

Noel Salter says equity in participation rules are vital for the industry’s future.(ABC News)

Minister demands action after participant concerns

Labor leader Dean Winter first asked Racing Minister Jane Howlett about the matter in parliament on Tuesday morning, and she said she was “aware of it” and would seek more details.

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Later that day, she said ORI was undertaking “due diligence” on Mr Walters’s licence application, including requesting his response to various questions.

The next day — after industry participants voiced their concerns — Ms Howlett wrote to the director of racing asking that “urgent action” be taken over Mr Walters’s licence application.

“And that the director consider using his power under the Australian Harness Racing Rules (AHRR) rule number 22 section 13, to reject Mr Walters’s nominations of horses for racing, until such time as he has received answers to all the questions that he has asked,” the letter reads.

That rule allows the director to reject applications “without assigning any reason” and on Thursday morning, the director exercised that right

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