BROWNIE'S BLOG: APPEALS PROCEDURE UNDER FIRE. THE MANY REASONS WHY THE SYSTEM SHOULD BE CHANGED

By Damian Browne | Friday, May 29, 2020

The subject of the Queensland Racing Appeals process and the push to review and refine that procedure has become a hot topic once again with most people doubting the effectiveness of what is in place right now.

I can tell you I’ve been through the system a couple of times and, to be honest, I still have no idea how the whole thing works, or is meant to work, to say the least. I don’t know why they drag it out as long as they do … but they do … and that is just ridiculous.

It’s not like that in any other states. You are not sitting there waiting for your day in court for as much as two years or so, which has happened in some cases.

With my ride on Fighting Teo for example, they gave me two months, a verdict and penalty which I fought all the way. But, all the way meant I had to go to a hearing at the races in Brisbane … where I was given the time. Then I went to a meeting in the middle of town in Brisbane, which a ‘nothing’ meeting and that was about two months later.

Then, they said we’ll hear this again in about six months or something and so it went even though ninety-nine percent of the people said I would get off. The ride that was being queried took place on June 1, 2018. By the time I was taken ill in January 2019, with a condition which would ultimately, prematurely end my career, the case was nowhere near close to being resolved.

These sort of delays, which are more common than rare, should not be allowed to happen for, at very least, no other reason than the multiple negative effects it can have on the ‘accused.’ It can seriously damage his or her reputation as well as create a mental and physical strain on the person … which obviously is totally unwarranted if the person is, and is ultimately found to be, innocent.

I remember only too well what happened straight after I won the 2018 Caloundra Cup on Megablast. That win came a month after the Flying Teo ride which I was charged for. I hadn’t realised how much the pressure of that charge was building up on me over preceding weeks and all of that pent-up emotion came out as I came back to scale and dismounted from Megablast. I was so overcome with emotion I didn’t even attend the trophy presentation … so I know first hand that it definitely does take a mental toll on you.

Whatever the charge, the negative implication is hanging over that person’s head throughout the often lengthy delay in proceedings that we have come to know up here so well.

Those who are guilty might want the process to be dragged out for as long as possible. On many occasions they are allowed to continue with business as usual but those who are in the guilty category are not the ones that the system should in any way accommodate. If it favours them in any way, all the more reason for it to be changed as quickly as possible.

Like a number of other people, I heard some time ago that they were going to have a review of the Appeals system and why it does last so long on occasions … but I haven’t heard anything since.

Nothing seems to get done about it.

Nothing’s changed … which is why you can fully understand the frustration that so many express about this issue.
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This protracted way of doing things doesn’t really suit anybody. Some of it doesn’t even make much sense … right from the first internal review.

Has anybody ever won one of those?

The internal review is just a waste of time and money. It doesn’t achieve anything.

When a case moves beyond that to QCAT, on most occasions, the chances are you will be taking a horse racing case to a panel who has no background or experience of horseracing in any form yet they are the ones effectively making decisions which affect the livelihoods of the people that appear before them.

Most of them are probably more trained in the court of law than they are in the racing industry, which has its value but, as we all know, racing is a particular beast in almost every aspect.

People have different opinions but the results of some of the cases at QCAT would suggest that the view of the race day stewards and the ‘judges’ at QCAT are poles apart which has to be disturbing,

I’m not even sure what the percentage would be of how many victories stewards have had at QCAT (ie. where the original finding has been completely rubber-stamped). I could be wrong but, in most of the ones I hear of, the one that is being charged normally wins his or her appeal.

I think the stewards hardly ever win outright. If that is true, again it is a lot of time and money spent for a questionable return.
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It seems like stating the obvious, but somewhere along the Appeals process chain when jockey’s cases are heard, there should be a panel made up, in part at least, of ex-jockeys.

That’s where you can get the likes of the Scrivo’s (Shane Scrivan) and the Jeff Lloyd’s … and these guys. I would even consider doing that. I’d like to think I know what I’m looking at too.

How many former riders are on any of the panels at the moment … and those panels are adjudicating riding offences?

I had to explain to a steward once what I meant when I said my horse wasn’t feeling right. I said it was like driving a car with a flat tire so that he could try and understand what I was saying. He just had no idea when I said the horse felt bad or whatever. His reply was, well it is still galloping.

I don’t think you can ever really understand that, and many other situations, unless you have ridden a horse at full gallop in a race. It is frustrating when you, as a professional jockey, have to put something in layman’s terms when, ideally, they should already have the background expertise and experience to know what you are talking about.

That’s how it should be run.

Some new blood in some new system. Sounds good to me!
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The bottom line is that, however the much-needed new Appeals system is formulated when it comes in … and has to come in … it simply cannot be allowed to take as long as it does now.

In fact, it has to be a whole lot shorter. It shouldn’t take more than a few weeks.

The stay of proceedings options is another point that has to be addressed. I know you have to apply for a stay. Now, I’ve never heard of one application getting knocked back so it is more or less a formality which gives the applicant the right to keep riding up until their hearing.

If there hearing is months away, what sort of message does that give to anybody. It is certainly not a deterrent.

For example, we have a leading apprentice here at the moment. How many suspensions has he got hanging over his head … but I still see him riding every week.

That is no fault of his … again it is the current system that allows him to do that so why wouldn’t you want to use the system … but that is just another, very real negative spinoff of a system which takes too long to unravel cases and which therefore, in my opinion, plays to the detriment of racing.
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All stewards are obviously caught in the middle of all of this and you have to wonder sometimes what negative affect these long drawn out cases and the numerous unhappy endings has on steward’s morale.

In my time, I was lucky to ride under a number of stewards that I had so much respect for … and those stewards were probably as hard on me as any other steward.

I respected the job they were doing and they gave me due respect in return. If I did something wrong, I knew I would be suspended or fined depending on the circumstances and I had no problem with that. They had my respect because I knew they were hard but fair across the board.

Then there are some stewards which I just can’t respect at all for a number of reasons. I won’t go there except to say that they were probably not in the right job.

The bottom line though is that all race-day stewards have so much to do these days that morale is likely be a key factor in their overall performance. To keep that morale at a necessary high level, they deserve to have their efforts backed by the very best Appeals system process.

They don’t have that here.

Just another reason why the system has to reviewed and revamped and just another reason why, as you will have guessed, I wholeheartedly agree with those calling for change.

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