Concurrent OR Cumulative

[Lethal]

Trish,
That's why I don't participate anymore. It's just so obvious that the administrators of the Industry are always in damage control. We need someone with the guts to refer the charges that amount to nothing less than fraud to the DPP. How come Peter Slipper can be found guilty of defrauding the Commonwealth of a few thousand dollars and face a jail term but in Harness Racing all you get is disqualification and then you get your licence back. It doesn't make sense.

[Danno]

I think penalties being served concurrently should be decided on a few mitigating or other factors such as time in sport, time without any convictions, number of infractions involved in the decision, substance, etc.
It would appear that in this case none of those were taken into account, so it would be good to read what were the determining factors in the penalties and how they are to be served.

Looked pretty damn lenient to me!

[kung fu man]

Honestly why would you give someone who uses crap like meth thier license back at all and that goes for C/C as well

[Viv Strangman]

I hate cheats as much as anyone else but the way the harness racing authorities approach positives to drugs is a major part of the problem.
They start from a default position that they don't have to prove that the drugs were knowingly given by the accused.
Their mantra is a horse must be presented to race free from a list of drugs they have deemed to be performance enhancing.
Circumstances play no part in determining guilt which is all good and fine in a harness racing tribunal but won't last two minutes in court.
So the harness racing stewards find them guilty but then hit them with a wet bus ticket because they know if they come down too hard they are all off to the courts and there they have to prove that it was deliberate, not accidental.
I would love them to take some of these repeat offenders on if only to send a message to everybody in the industry but it appears that the harness racing authorities have accepted the current position as the best that they can do and have no inclination to change their current stance on this matter.
So as everyone can see, harness racing continues to slowly wither and die and the integrity issue is a big part of that.

[Race For Fun]

Time for life time bans for repeat offenders. One thing I don't understand is the fact that if harness racing is the drug offenders main source of income that is taken into consideration. If you work at a bank and defraud the bank you are sacked, face court and would not be employed by another bank later.

[Messenger]

I hate cheats as much as anyone else but the way the harness racing authorities approach positives to drugs is a major part of the problem.
They start from a default position that they don't have to prove that the drugs were knowingly given by the accused.
Their mantra is a horse must be presented to race free from a list of drugs they have deemed to be performance enhancing.
Circumstances play no part in determining guilt which is all good and fine in a harness racing tribunal but won't last two minutes in court.
So the harness racing stewards find them guilty but then hit them with a wet bus ticket because they know if they come down too hard they are all off to the courts and there they have to prove that it was deliberate, not accidental.
I would love them to take some of these repeat offenders on if only to send a message to everybody in the industry but it appears that the harness racing authorities have accepted the current position as the best that they can do and have no inclination to change their current stance on this matter.
So as everyone can see, harness racing continues to slowly wither and die and the integrity issue is a big part of that.

I agree with you Viv but you can see why they start with this default position
How do you prove that the substance was knowingly given by the accused unless you have either an admission of guilt, credible witnesses willing to testify or video evidence.
Even a repeat offender is always going to be able to claim some sort of conspiracy eg. An enemy of mine has got through my security at night and given the substance to set me up

[trish]

Time for life time bans for repeat offenders. One thing I don't understand is the fact that if harness racing is the drug offenders main source of income that is taken into consideration. If you work at a bank and defraud the bank you are sacked, face court and would not be employed by another bank later.

Good point Toni.
It should be THAT simple.

[Messenger]

Good point Toni.
It should be THAT simple.

As Viv pointed out, I don't think it can be that simple because we are not proving that they gave the substance and therefore they would take it to a court of law to have it appealed.
I think it might need to be tested in court as to whether we can disqualify a person or refuse to license a person

[trish]

As Viv pointed out, I don't think it can be that simple because we are not proving that they gave the substance and therefore they would take it to a court of law to have it appealed.
I think it might need to be tested in court as to whether we can disqualify a person or refuse to license a person

I understand Kev, maybe I should have put I wish it was that simple, just hate the cheats Kev, for their part in destroying our game.
The guy from the Meadowlands has the right approach.

[Viv Strangman]

Drugs will kill this industry.I have a friend involved in admin in harness racing in New Zealand and they know the cheats are winning. Everytime they close one avenue off, the drug cheats find a new one. I thought it was bad but not as bad as explained to me yesterday. Evidently the new drug is Cresp which does the same job as EPO. By the time the authorities get on top of that one, the drug cheats will be on to something else. Makes you want to just walk away.