Racetrack Ralphy’s ramblings

I need to begin with a confession.

Last week when penning this column, I felt like I was being a little bit of a conspiracy theorist in suggesting it seemed more than coincidental that details of the EPO charges laid against the Laming stable by RVL were released to the media late on a Friday afternoon, two weeks after the heat of the spring carnival had well and truly died down.

It seemed – I stress seemed – that given that the incident came to light in June, it was a strategic ploy to release any “bad” racing news post-spring, long after the Twigleys, Gales and Hawkins of the beautiful people had moved their supermodel selves back off track.

And I wrote – while hiding behind the grassy knoll in an open-topped car – that the “hiding” strategy is dumb strategy.

Since the column was published, Damien Oliver “suddenly” was suspended for a Derby-Day drug-related offence (reduced to a severe reprimand on appeal), Leon Corstens officially was charged over eventual Caulfield Guineas winner Starspangledbanner returning a pre-race positive test to a prohibited substance from AUGUST 1 – yep August, as in four months ago – and Racing Victoria announced the cancellation of jumps racing.

Has the theory become fact?

Ollie and the AFL example

The issue of Damien Oliver’s suspension and subsequent successful appeal has many layers. One that hasn’t been canvassed is this hypothetical:

On the same (Derby) day and place that Oliver tested positive, an AFL champion could have knowingly and wittingly ingested an illicit drug – such as cocaine – in, say, a typical celebrity-filled sponsor’s marquee.

The following day at pre-season training, a random drug test could have seen him test positive to the said drug.

Once confirmed, the governing body wouldn’t know about it, the player’s club wouldn’t know about it and the voracious media – and subsequently the public – certainly wouldn’t know about it, because the confidentiality of the illicit drug policy would have protected his privacy.

The AFL also would have counseled and attempted to medically rehabilitate the player.

This process has been put together by the AFL with experts in the field of drug rehabilitation, and has the full support of the AFL Players’ Association.

So with that in mind, did a Hall of Fame jockey with the highest profile in the country, whose suspension led TV sports bulletins and received significant coverage in other general sections of the sporting media BECAUSE it was Damien Oliver, REALLY need to have his name so publicly dragged through the mud?

Me thinks not, particularly given that his suspension was quashed on appeal.

Now it would be fair and accurate to point out that the significant difference between the AFL hypothetical and Oliver is that the AFL would be under the “out-of-competition” testing criteria, while Oliver was a breach of the regulatory rules, albeit minor and inadvertent.

But when reading RVL integrity services manager Dayle Brown (The Age, Nov 25) saying, “… we could be unjustly tarnishing a reputation” (by releasing a finding as soon as a positive test is discovered,) the intention of privacy seems honorable enough.

So why not let the appeal process (that is the whole box and dice) be heard in camera as well?

Sitting on the (jump) fence

For someone charged with giving his opinion, this writer professes to not have a strong opinion either way about the seemingly terminal future of jumps racing – both sides of the debate have merit.

Having said that, a true racing person can’t help but side with those fighting for their right to continue their professional existence, despite personally not being inclined to analyze, nor to invest on the races themselves.

But a better bet than Denman at Deniliquin is the revolting bunfight that we’re going to be seeing at any and all Victorian race-meetings featuring jumps racing next year.

RVL chief executive Rob Hines told Sport 927 that allowing the sport to continue in 2010 gave it “a chance to transition”.

In reality, it’s a gift-wrapped-hand-written-please-come-to-my-party invitation for the RSPCA and like-minded, vehement anti-jumping crusaders to showboat, demonstrate, grandstand and disrupt race meetings.

We got a taste of it at feature jumps meetings at Sandown and Moonee Valley this year when those with no reputations to lose were doing their utmost to smear all those attending.

It’s not going to be pretty.