THE STRADBROKE HANDICAP WINNER IS BANNED FROM RACING IN VICTORIA

By Graham Potter | Thursday, August 4, 2022

A Racing Victoria media release has confirmed that Racing Victoria has banned horses in which Allan Endresz has a majority share from racing in Victoria.

This order includes the 2022 Stradbroke winner Alligator Blood, who was being lined up for several feature races during the Melbourne Spring Carnival.

As reported by Racing.com, the release, in part, reads:

‘During the course of their inquiries, the stewards established two areas of concern. Firstly, that Mr Endresz is currently an undischarged bankrupt, and secondly, the Stewards have been unable to ascertain nor identify all of the beneficiaries associated with Mr Endresz and his racing syndicates.

‘In light of the above concerns, Mr Endresz was invited to participate in a show cause hearing where he was provided with an opportunity to demonstrate why he ought to be allowed to continue racing horses in Victoria.

‘Taking into account all the information and materials provided during the show cause hearing, the Stewards have determined that Mr Endresz has not complied with the following Australian Rules of Racing:

‘AR36A(2)(c) which states that a person is not permitted to hold an ownership or lease interest in a horse if the person is an undischarged bankrupt or is taking advantage of the laws in force for the time being relating to bankruptcy; and

‘AR36B which states that an ownership or lease interest in a horse is not permitted to be held in a trust where the persons having an interest in the horse, beneficial or otherwise, are not readily and accurately identifiable.

‘In coming to this decision, the Stewards carefully considered the position of other owners, who would otherwise be entitled to race and should not be impacted by Mr Endresz’ failure to comply with AR36A or AR36B.’

Stewards have noted that, ‘any future ownership application to amend your (Endresz’s) interest in the racing ownership of horses will be subject to steward’s review and approval.’

With regard to horses in which Endresz or any syndicate he is involved hold a minority interest, stewards have stated they will permit those horses to race in Victoria at their discretion.

By making these decisions, Racing Victoria is following the lead of Racing NSW who had previously put a similar ban in place.

Racing Queensland left that door open though allowing Alligator Blood to land a sensational victory in the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap on June 11.

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