THE ALLIGATOR BLOOD DISQUALIFICATION SAGA SET TO CONTINUE AS QRIC APPEAL SUPREME COURT DECISION

By Graham Potter | Saturday, January 21, 2023

It is now three years down the track, but the saga surrounding Alligator Blood’s 2020 Magic Millions Guineas victory, the disqualification and then his subsequent reinstatement via Supreme Court action ... will continue to play out for some time to come with the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission (QRIC) confirming it has lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court of Queensland (Court of Appeal) against the Supreme Court decision.

It had seemed that the connections of Alligator Blood had received an early Christmas present when the Court judgement was handed down in their favour on December 23, but Queensland Racing authorities had unto last Friday (January 20) to appeal, a right they exercised at the last minute.

The grounds of the appeal, as reported on Racenet, are that the Judge erred in finding that the disqualification ruling was ...

1 — Not pursuant to Rule 240 (1) of the Australian Rules Of Racing.

2 — Incorrectly construing AR 280 and 282 as not conferring on the owners of a disqualified horse a right of appeal against the disqualification.

3 — Incorrectly implied a contractual term requiring that procedural fairness be afforded to the owners of the horse before imposition of that disqualification.

Alligator Blood was stripped of his Guineas win after traces of Altrenogest, a banned substance with regard to use in male horses, was allegedly discovered in a post-race sample.

That consideration was however not a factor in the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of Alligator Blood’s connections, which rather dealt with the matter of procedure ... as stated, in part, in the following extract from Judge Burn’s summary:

‘It follows that it was an implied term of the contract that the stewards were obliged to observe the principles of natural justice by providing notice of their hearing to the owners and an opportunity to them to be heard before any finding were made. That did not occur and, as such, the hearing was procedurally flawed.

‘Because of this procedural breach, the disqualification which resulted from the findings made by the stewards is void and no effect,’ concluded Judge Burns.

QRIC’s appeal leaves the matter open ended at this time with the timeframe for a final resolution in this long running saga not yet in sight.

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