PENALTY DOWNGRADED BUT HEATHCOTE WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT MISCONDUCT FINDING AT QCAT

By Graham Potter | Sunday, March 7, 2021

Trainer Robert Heathcote has confirmed he will be going to QCAT in an attempt to reverse the guilty finding handed to him on a misconduct charge.

The charge arose from a post-race exchange between Heathcote and jockey Mark Du Plessis after the Heathcote runner Stuttering had been beaten in a race in which Heathcote said Du Plessis rode contrary to instructions.

The initial penalty that came with the guilty verdict was a $500 fine (with $250 of that suspended).

After an internal review, the fine has fallen away and been replaced by a reprimand.

Heathcote has said from the outset that the money aspect was not the motivation for his appeal and that he was solely focussed on clearing his name … and therefore the confirmation of the guilty finding, irrespective of the fact that it now came with a downgraded penalty, did little to satisfy the top trainer … who will now take the matter further.