Punters in doping scam gun

By PHIL TAYLOR

Police investigating possible fraud in the billion-dollar horse-racing industry are examining the betting records of some of the country's biggest punters.

It is thought to be the first time in New Zealand that police have become involved in investigating alleged irregularities.

They are understood to have been approached by a whistleblower, who decided to talk after becoming outraged on discovering a sexual affair involving someone in the alleged doping and punting scam.

The whistleblower is understood to have provided police with a sample of "blue magic", an illegal concoction regarded as performance-enhancing.

Harness-racing authorities yesterday announced that one horse had tested positive to propantheline bromide, a component of blue magic.

The trainer has been notified but, at the request of police, Harness Racing New Zealand decided not to name the horse and trainer.

The Herald believes it knows the identity of the trainer. Approached yesterday, he said he was meeting his lawyer and had no comment.

The Herald has learned that another trainer has admitted to police that he had used blue magic. But samples from his horses have not been reported as positive.

This may have prompted the samples to be retested, which harness-racing authorities have confirmed is now under way.

At the centre of the inquiry is a New Zealander who was linked to an Australian racing stable busted last month. This man is suspected of supplying blue magic.

The Herald revealed on May 7 that the stables of five Canterbury trainers had been raided the previous day. They included those of Mark Purdon, harness racing's top trainer. Police are understood to have executed search warrants for Purdon's property and that of Nigel McGrath, and racing officials searched the stables of Tim Butt, David Butt and thoroughbred trainer Paul Harris.

Inspector John Doyle said no substances which police regarded as criminal were found. Samples of other substances taken from the stables were being tested.

Purdon's stable includes superstars Young Rufus (current pacer of the year), Jack Cade (multiple winner of group-one races) and top age-group performers Advance Attack and Kamwood Cully.

It is normal for Harness Racing to name the horse which tested positive and the trainer but this information was withheld at the request of the police.

"In a police inquiry we don't go along announcing things at every turn," Mr Doyle said.

"We have to do an enormous amount of work before we do that and so we are urging them to work in our environment."

Under normal racing regulations a trainer whose horse failed a test would face a fine or a ban but this may be delayed while police work on the fraud inquiry, which Mr Doyle said could take weeks.

Police are looking for evidence that large bets were placed on horses that were doped. "That's going to be interesting," said Mr Doyle.

"You can punt without people knowing, in different names and in different ways [but] some of it is traceable.

"Some of them are big punters."

After receiving the tip-off, police made tentative inquiries but stepped them up after the bust in Australia.

In that case, 60 test tubes of what was reported to be blue magic were found in a refrigerator on the Ballarat property of Victoria trainer Rod Weightman. Australian media has reported that 2kg of marijuana was also found in a locked shed.

Weightman has been charged with trafficking, cultivating and possessing cannabis. Victoria's racing authorities are awaiting the results of tests on the blue magic.

Weightman has had spectacular success rejuvenating old horses and this season trained 30 winners from 69 starters, doubling his strike rate of last season.

The New Zealander at the centre of the investigation by Christchurch police is believed to have had an association with Weightman.

He returned to New Zealand last year.

Mr Doyle said police involvement had given some in the industry the confidence to come forward.

If fraud was involved, it impacted widely on the industry, to the small punter who assumed the game was fair, to the breeding industry where a sire's value was related to its racing record.

"Some people," Mr Doyle said, "were quite shocked [by the police involvement] but the penny has dropped and they are saying we want the industry to be clean because it's not just the betting, it's the breeding and the selling of horses."

- additional reporting: Michael Guerin