Originally Posted by
aussiebreno
Anybody keeping an eye on the Australia cricket saga?
We've got a pretty well defined drug classification list ranging from minor offences for therapeutic use (eg Bute) to the major stuff (eg bicarb) and the worst stuff (eg EPO). I think most people would agree other offences like whipping the horse too much or placing bets on your own horse would be deemed minor, but team driving, pulling one up, backing the opposition would be major.
On what scale does the Steve Smith offence rate in harness racing terms? Its not match fixing or performance enhancing drugs so its not at the high end of offences. Something that Bancroft/Smith have done would maybe be comparable to treating your horse with a therapeutic drug too close to race day?
Admittedly our media and fan base is on a much smaller scale to the Australian cricket side, but even proportionally speaking the public lynching of Smith is way, way worse than any of our guilty trainers cop. It really shows societies standards in sport and why our game needs to enforce tougher rules on cheats if we wish to secure more fans.
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