So What Ever Happened to John McCarthy’s Cobalt Case?
A horse trained by John McCarthy threw a positive swab to cobalt in October 2018. McCarthy was charged with presenting it to race while under the influence. Five years later he was found guilty and given a DQ of 12 month. John McCarthy appealed, and his sentence was reduced to 9 months. He appealed again […]
Five Years Later John McCarthy Cops a 9 Month Sentence For a Cobalt Positive – And Gets an Immediate Stay (First Published September 2023)
In October 2018 a horse prepared by the former premiership winning trot trainer John McCarthy – the father of Luke – threw a positive swab to cobalt after winning a race at Menangle. For reasons known only to J. McCarthy and Harness Racing NSW, the seemingly simple strict liability matter took 5 years to be […]
Wherever Jamie and Aaron Go, Magic Follows
Winona Writer won 7 of her first 10 starts between April 2021 and April 2022. The mare hadn’t won one in 25 starts since. She looked pretty buggered, so her owners put her up for sale. Guess who bought her? Summit and Bain. They gave her first to Chelsea Prothero, the girlfriend of and bowler […]
Who Says You Can’t Get a Bet on the Trots on a Tuesday Night?
These bets you see at the top are fair dinkum wagers, published by one of Australia’s largest bookmakers on the bet ticker available on its app. $80 grand the place on a pacer on a pacer in race 4 at Wagga last night. Who said you can’t get a bet on at the trots on […]
Can the Trot People Charged in Operation Inca Get Their Costs Paid by the Prosecution? – Here is What the NZ Police Manual Says
Unless otherwise stated, references in this chapter to: ‑ sections, are to the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 (CPA) ‑ rules, are to the Criminal Procedure Rules 2012 (“the rules”). When can costs orders be made? The court may make a costs order where there has been a significant procedural failure in the course of a […]
How an Unprecedented Investigation into Harness Racing Corruption Collapsed
by Jake Kenny Early one spring morning in 2018, teams of police officers began storming harness racing stables around the country. Over the next two days, 17 properties – stables and homes in Canterbury, Manawatū and Invercargill belonging to some of the sport’s top identities – were raided, culminating in 11 industry figures being accused […]
Odds On, Look On at Maryborough as Two Tonkin/Stewart Shorties Go Down
Anyone who religiously follows the Tonkin/Stewart stable is eating cold porridge mixed with water this morning after both of their runners at Maryborough yesterday went down. Vague Beauty started at $1.90 in the 4th race and looked home to the world down the straight, before it lost interest and fell in a hole to throw […]
The $6 Million Lights at the ‘Cliffe
No wonder they couldn’t afford to build Norwell!!! So Redcliffe is getting new lights, sounds good to me, (I am going to move there!) but at a price tag of $6m?? Seriously for just lights? https://www.harness.org.au/media-room/news-article/?news_id=65009 2 odd years ago Melton got new lights and remodelled their infield to make it a multipurpose venue at […]
Rosedale’s Fastest Girl
Rosedale is a tiny little town of 438 people near Baffle Creek, on the way to Captain Cook’s 2nd landing spot in Australia at the Town of 1770, officially known to no-one but government wonks as Seventeen Seventy due to the naming rules prohibiting numerals in names. I don’t know what connection the pacing mare […]