hobbes
28-02-2002, 16:58
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Robin Parke 15/06/99
A derisory fine of $5,000 on trainer David Hayes following the positive dope test on Mughal Palace showed clearly that the Australian was guilty of only the most technical breach of Rule 53.
It is difficult not to suggest that he still paid this modest price for the mistakes of others: the veterinary department of the Jockey Club.
What is the use of having guidelines if they are patently wrong? It is a fact that isoxsuprine in other racing jurisdictions has a cut-off period considerably in excess of the seven days decreed in Hong Kong.
This was widely known - and most certainly by veterinarians in racing - but Hong Kong made no change and that despite the fact that we have the best detection system in the world, so it is said.
The seven-day rule may now be scrapped and it is up to the trainer to decide when to discontinue treatment.
While that may work in the future, the point at issue here is that, in essence, Hayes was misled (obviously inadvertently and not deliberately) by the Jockey Club veterinary department into believing he could administer isoxsuprine up to seven days before a race. And they should have known better, To be certain, Hayes discontinued treatment 11 days before Mughal Palace raced.
It is impossible not to suggest that the veterinary department was culpable in this matter. But only Hayes and owner Syed Hussain Pervez have paid a price.
It is rather too close to the season ending to decide just how good the last nine months really have been for Hong Kong racing. A final assessment may be more accurately made a little further down the line.
But it was clearly overshadowed by the tragic death of Willy Kan and one would like to think there will soon be an announcement from the Jockey Club about a more permanent memorial to her name.
Betting turnover and attendance figures did not make great reading - in light of previous years - but we are scarcely floundering in a financial sink of despair.
Indigenous did mighty things and, who knows, may do even more at Ascot in late July.
And there are some good young horses coming up which should leave us with a sense of anticipation.
Meanwhile, it is definitely time for a break.
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Sunday June 13 1999
Hayes fine may lead to changes
Robin Parke
CHAMPION trainer David Hayes pleaded guilty to a technical breach of the Rules of Racing over the Mughal Palace positive drug test and was fined $5,000 by a Jockey Club board of inquiry yesterday.
Significantly, in the wake of yesterday's hearing and decision, rules relating to administering approved medication to Hong Kong horses could change dramatically.
Hayes cut off treatment to Mughal Palace 11 days before he was due to race, even though the Jockey Club-recommended threshold was just seven days.
In imposing sentence - and a fine which is light for a breach of Rule 53 - the panel of inquiry accepted Hayes' submission that the breach was a technical one.
The panel accepted that isoxsuprine was a drug prescribed by the Jockey Club's veterinary department and that it had been administered by Hayes in line with recommended guidelines.
Director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said: 'The guidelines relating to the administration of approved medication will be looked at. Frankly, the seven-day period should disappear. In most other jurisdictions it is entirely the responsibility of the trainer as to administering or treating horses. If there is then a positive test, it is his responsibility.
'If we scrap the seven-day threshold and a trainer wants to administer an approved medication three days before a race, then it is up to him.
'But he will be aware of what will happen if it then turns up as a positive test.'
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Thursday June 10 1999
Hayes faces inquiry on two breaches of the rules after Mughal Palace
ROBIN PARKE
Angry owner Syed Pervez Hussain is considering legal action following a decision taken by the Hong Kong Jockey Club yesterday to disqualify Mughal Palace after a positive dope test.
Deeply upset trainer David Hayes, who is being charged under two Rules of Racing as a result of the positive test to isoxsuprine, refused immediate comment, but sources close to the champion trainer said he was bitterly disappointed by decisions taken yesterday by a specially convened Jockey Club board of inquiry.
The inquiry into Hayes' part in the highly controversial affair has been adjourned to a later date.
Hussain has arranged a meeting with his barrister today to determine which course of legal action he will take.
'This is simply a clear case of injustice - nothing more and nothing less. I will pursue this with the utmost determination but I cannot say what the exact course will be until I consult my barrister,' he said.
'It may be a case of suing the Jockey Club and their vets or one or the other. I will be suing for the recovery of the prizemoney - and more.
'The 'more' will be the stress this has caused me and the time that I have been forced to spend on it all.'
As expected, a later inquiry disqualified L'Or de Martell Cup winner Whytellyou, trained by Patrick Biancone. The horse tested positive to the little-known drug mephenesin. That race now goes to the David Hill-trained Kowloon Pride, who will go into the record books as a three-time winner of the high-profile event.
As the Whytellyou case, and another involving an anabolic steroid positive test on griffin Rickfield, are the subject of ongoing Hong Kong Police criminal inquiries, there was no further Jockey Club announcement about any inquiry involving French trainer Biancone.
Leading Asian owner-breeder Hussain, who has over 200 horses in his native Pakistan, was pulling no punches.
'It is absolutely wrong that they can do this. It was not anything that was done by my trainer or myself.
'Their vets said what was right and it ended up being wrong,' said Hussain, who has raced horses in Australia, Hong Kong, England and Macau.
'The records clearly show that my trainer discontinued treatment with the medication 11 days before the race and the Jockey Club say that the treatment should be stopped just seven days before the race.' Significantly, the owner was able to point out that cut-off periods for isoxsuprine in other racing jurisdictions often far exceed the seven days that were deemed - and still are - permissible in Hong Kong. The Macau Jockey Club has a threshold of 21 days and in Australia it is a fortnight.
Apart from Pakistan, where he has won the Derby twice, Hussain also has breeding interests in Ireland.
He has raced, in total, four horses in Hong Kong, starting with English sprinter Mughal Prince, whom he bought off ex-England footballer, Francis Lee.
Then came the ill-fated Shadow Dancer, who never saw the racetrack after an injury sustained on the then troublesome training track at Sha Tin. Australian Group winner Trobis has won for Hussain and trainer Bruce Hutchison and finally came Mughal Palace, who has caused a bigger sensation than the rest of them combined.
Champion trainer Hayes is known to be deeply upset - not least because he has a totally impeccable record, unblemished by any hint of equine drug abuse.
Hayes has been charged under Rules 53 and 58(i)(b). The first rule states that a panel of inquiry 'may hold the trainer of the horse responsible for administering the prohibited substance to the horse and may punish the trainer'.
The catch-all second rule states that a trainer shall 'be responsible for all matters pertaining to the running of his stable including stable routine, feeding, security inside the stable and the work of the stable staff allocated to him'.
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Saturday June 5 1999
Jockey Club ready to rule on drug cases
ROBIN PARKE
Jockey Club inquiries into the positive drug tests on the Patrick Biancone-trained Whytellyou and Mughal Palace, trained by David Hayes, will be held within 60 minutes of each other on Wednesday.
Given the complexities involved with Whytellyou, winner of the L'Or de Martell Cup, and the subject now of an official Hong Kong Police investigation, it is likely that the horse will be disqualified and further inquiries will then continue.
If that happens, the L'Or de Martell Cup will be awarded to Kowloon Pride, trained by David Hill, who will go into the record books as a three-time winner of the sponsored event run off on Grand National Night.
Whytellyou tested positive to a little-known drug mephenesen, widely regarded as a 'stopping' agent.
The case of Mughal Palace appears much more straightforward as the prohibited substance involved, isoxsuprine, is regularly used in Hong Kong under veterinary supervision.
Mughal Palace tested positive although champion trainer Hayes had discontinued using the drug 11 days before the horse ran on May 15. The Jockey Club's mandatory cut-off period is seven days.
The Mughal Palace case becomes even more interesting with reports that traces of isoxsuprine remained in the horse's urine until quite recently - and long after the race.
A double from Hayes at Happy Valley on Wednesday night has made him odds-on favourite to retain his title but French ace Biancone is not without a hope.
He is four winners behind and both trainers do stand to lose a winner with the positive drug tests.
Interestingly, Hong Kong Rules of Racing do not make disqualification mandatory in such cases - although it has been the practice to do so in the past when similar cases have arisen.
The stewards do have discretionary powers but the issue is further complicated in that the Jockey Club is now a signatory to the International Racing Conference agreement, which stipulates, in Article Six, that all drug-positive winners will be disqualified.
As there is also legal representation involved in the case of Whytellyou, it is almost certain that the inquiry will not end quickly.
The most likely outcome on Wednesday is that both horses will be disqualified although the Hayes case, on the face of it more straightforward, will be concluded.
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Tuesday May 25 1999
Mystery of doped horses deepens
LAWRENCE WADEY
One doping case was bad enough - but now there are three.
The first, Patrick Biancone's Whytellyou testing positive to Mephenesin, has been well documented and it is understood that the Jockey Club's security department is near to concluding its investigation so that a hearing in front of a specially convened stewards' panel can commence.
There are so many possibilities here that it is hard to second guess the panel's findings.
However, some veterinary sources insist the drug would not calm down a headstrong horse so that it could race better. Rather, they stress, Mephenesin is a stopping drug.
It is possible, but all the same it is very, very hard to imagine a trainer here bothering to administer a drug to a horse in order to stop it.
In the extremely rare likelihood of anyone, trainer or otherwise, wanting a horse to be beaten there are far more obvious avenues to explore first.
Last week, the two other drug cases appeared right out of leftfield.
One is as serious as they come.
The other isn't - unless you happen to be the connections and about to see a mere $500,000 in prize money disappear out of the window.
The serious one involves another Biancone-trained horse, this time the griffin Rickfield, who tested positive to what is believed to be an old-fashioned anabolic steroid in Boldenone.
Coming on the back of Whytellyou's positive, Biancone is not exaggerating the gravity of the situation when he said he had to report the matter to the police 'for the sake of my family and my career'.
There can be no doubt about this. Biancone's career is on the line should he be found to be culpable, but it is hard not to sympathise with a remark he made along the lines of: Does anyone think he'd be stupid enough to give a horse an anabolic steroid which is 100 per cent guaranteed to show up? No wonder he wanted to call in the police and initiate a criminal investigation.
This time it is even harder than in the Mephenesin case to second guess what actually transpired and who did what and what their motives were.
There are so many plots and sub-plots, bluffs and double bluffs that there is as much chance of being right by suggesting it was Colonel Mustard in the library with the lead piping as by suggesting anything else.
But what should not be underestimated is the seriousness of these cases, first of all for Biancone's career and then in their security implications for the Jockey Club, as someone somewhere is beating the system.
The other case involves the recent David Hayes-trained Sha Tin winner Mughal Palace.
He has tested positive to Circulon, which was basically being used to increase the blood flow to Mughal Palace's legs as he'd had niggling training problems.
Hayes, who prides himself on his clean record, and Mughal Palace's owner, the well-known Pakistani businessman and horse breeder Syed Pervez Hussain, insist that Mughal Palace came off Circulon fully 12 days before he was due to race.
The Jockey Club's veterinary department, presumably on the basis of the manufacturer's advice, stipulates that all horses are off Circulon seven days before they race.
So this case looks to be pretty straightforward in how it should be dealt with.
If subsequent tests confirm the positive to Circulon, Mughal Palace must be disqualified.
But should connections lose their prize money? Clearly they should if the reason for the positive is that the dosage was exceeded.
But this is going to be hard to establish as Circulon is a cream and is rubbed on to the relevant area.
If the dosage administered is found to have been the correct, then the Jockey Club must disqualify the horse but fork over the prize money as connections are not to blame.
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Sunday May 23 1999
Club to review doping control
Robin Parke
THE Jockey Club will review its doping control procedures following the incidents involving Patrick Biancone and the David Hayes-trained Mughal Palace.
It is widely believed that the Jockey Club has the most advanced testing system in world racing for the detection of prohibited substances and is proud of its drug-free racing. That image has taken a knock with recent revelations, and further tightening or changing of procedures is in the offing.
Director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said yesterday: 'We must look at the whole procedure and, where necessary, make changes. We do have an excellent laboratory and we are very conscious of the need to keep our racing free of drugs.
'This is a matter of priority.' he added.
The cases involving Biancone - whose Whytellyou and Rickfield recently returned positive tests - and Hayes are markedly different. The Whytellyou case involves a drug that is not available in Hong Kong and is all but unknown. The Rickfield incident is bizarre in that an archaic anabolic steroid was administered - and a steroid would be virtually the first drug to show up in a post-race screening.
Hayes was administering circulon provided by the Jockey Club veterinary department, which instructs that the cut-off period is seven days before a race.
Hayes discontinued treatment 11 days prior to the race on May 15 but traces of isoxsuprine - the generic name - were still found.
Leading trainer Ivan Allan said yesterday: 'There should be a differentiation between drug-free and medication-free racing.
'Circulon is quite frequently used, as are other medications. It is quite likely that the Jockey Club's post-race screening facilities are so good that they are detecting minute traces of the medication.
'What should also be analysed or stated is what effect - if any - that could possibly have had on the horse's performance.' One possibility is that the Jockey Club would pass the entire responsibility to the trainer with no cut-off period laid down.
'It would be the responsibility of the trainer to ensure that the horse did not return a positive test. He would have to discontinue treatment at such a time as to ensure that any urine test would be negative,' said Engelbrecht-Bresges.
Earlier this season, there were moves by the veterinary department to advance the threshold period from seven days to 14 days. This move was opposed by trainers.
The Hayes case, although not necessarily open and shut, suggests that the current cut-off period may be insufficient.
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Saturday May 22 1999
Club probes Palace positive test
ROBIN PARKE
The Jockey Club confirmed yesterday it is investigating a positive urine sample returned last Saturday from the David Hayes-trained winner Mughal Palace as the horse's owner declared that he should not lose the prize money.
The official news came a day after it was reported that Mughal Palace was positive to the drug circulon.
It also came as Hayes, back in Australia, was involved in making funeral arrangements for his legendary father Colin Hayes, who died at home at Lindsay Park, South Australia, yesterday morning.
In related news, the Jockey Club confirmed it was working actively with the Hong Kong Police following a report made by trainer Patrick Biancone into the doping of his two horses, Whytellyou and Rickfield.
If a confirmatory sample of urine from Mughal Palace comes back positive, then the horse will be disqualified - and a vital winner lost for title-chasing jockey Basil Marcus and champion trainer Hayes.
Ironically, the race would go to Ricky P. F. Yiu, who currently trails Hayes by four winners, thus cutting the deficit to just two.
Owner Syed Pervez Hussain stands to lose $486,210, less percentages, and he isn't happy.
'I have to ask why owners, who put millions into racing, be penalised in these circumstances when they clearly have not committed any offence. They should not take the prize money from the owner,' said Hussain, who is one of Asia's biggest owner-breeders with over 200 horses in his native Pakistan.
Hussain's point is that the generic drug isoxsuprine is prescribed by the Jockey Club's vets with a seven-day cut-off period before a horse races. It is accepted that Hayes stopped using circulon - a trade name - 11 days before Saturday's race.
But the Hong Kong Rules of Racing are inflexible and if the confirmatory sample is positive, Mughal Palace will be disqualified.
Director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said: 'It will be a thorough investigation. There is a seven-day threshold but there are also limitations on the amount of circulon used per application. It must he checked - if it is possible - that the amounts used did not exceed those permitted otherwise the trainer is clearly at fault. Usage over the prescribed amounts would affect the threshold period.' Engelbrecht-Bresges met officers of the Serious Crimes Bureau yesterday along with Security Department personnel as the Hong Kong Police began their investigation into the double doping.
Biancone had made the report to Sha Tin police station on Thursday night following the official announcement that the archaic anabolic steroid, boldenone, had been found in urine from unplaced griffin Rickfield, who ran last Saturday.
Engelbrecht-Bresges said: 'We will willingly co-operate with any law enforcement agency and everything will be made available to the Hong Kong Police.' Biancone was surrounded by the media at Sha Tin yesterday morning but was completely unruffled by the previous night's dramatic events.
'I did what I had to do and I thought long and hard before I did it. I have my career and my family to think about,' said the French trainer.
The substance did not show up in a pre-race test for Rickfield because the horse could not urinate - leading to a change in procedures.
Blood samples have been taken from horses unable to urinate but these are not as reliable. Now, if a horse pre-race has not urinated, a post-race sample will be taken - not matter how long it takes.
Wednesday December 29 1999
Furious Hayes threatens legal action over television comments
ROBIN PARKE
Champion trainer David Hayes is taking legal advice over comments made on a weekend television programme.
Hayes, who saddled up a longshot double at Sha Tin on Sunday, will be sending a tape of a Cable TV programme to his lawyers.
The affable Australian is a hard man to upset but when several owners told him of comments made on the show, he decided to pursue the matter.
'It is in Chinese, so obviously I do not know what was said. But I do know what my owners told me and, in my opinion, it is damaging to me.
'I do not know the person who made the comments but it is my intention to give the tape of the show to my lawyers and see if they feel there is a case to answer.
'Yes, I am upset and if the legal advice says it is actionable then I will go ahead with it,' stressed Hayes.
The comments were made by racing writer Carlos Wu and are said to concern Hayes' last-race winner, Top Light.
Hayes will have two runners in the Millennium Cup, the final event on a special eight-race New Year's Eve programme, and the Jockey Club was yesterday going through final preparations for the event.
Sunday March 29 1998
Two lucky $5 bets share record Triple Trio payout
By ROBIN PARKE
TWO Telebet customers shared a record Triple Trio dividend of $133,576,963.
While the enormous payout was for a $10 unit, the Jockey Club announced there had been two winners, each holding a $5 unit.
The previous top dividend of $70.8 million was paid on May 31, 1995.
Club information officer Leo Kwan said: 'We know there are two $5 winning units but we will not be releasing details of how much the winners staked or how they did it until after claims have been made and processed on Monday. Both bets were lodged through Telebet.' The Jockey Club had been predicting a dividend of more than $100 million as Triple Trio fever swept Hong Kong in the 48 hours leading up to the big Gold Cup meeting at Sha Tin.
With cut-off time for off-course bets at 8.30 pm on Friday night, the last chance for punters was to go to Sha Tin or Happy Valley racecourses yesterday.
And they did - boosting attendance at Sha Tin by nearly 30 per cent. Normal Saturday attendance is just more than 30,000 but yesterday it shot up to 39,570.
Betting windows were designated to take only TT bets during the three hours of selling up to the 2.30 pm post time for the first leg.
Another 12,054 were at Happy Valley, a healthy increase on normal Saturday crowds.
A sure indication that the TT and the thirst for a slice of the huge jackpot was the reason for the increased attendance was the sudden departure of thousands of people towards the railway station after the running of the second leg.
When Race Four produced two long-priced place-getters, there were only $780 worth of live tickets from a pool that closed at $139,618,000 going into Race Six.
Monday November 1 1999
Curbs on betting illogical
ROBIN PARKE
The Jockey Club has seen betting turnover drop and yet it turns away customers and makes life difficult for others.
For a business centred solely on betting, the Jockey Club has shown a manifest lack of understanding when it comes to actually knowing what many of its customers, large and small, actually desire.
It's called anonymity. And that is not another word for skulduggery.
It is said, probably tongue in cheek, that you can criticise a man's wife but not his horse. It certainly is bad form to inquire about a man's betting business because it is very much his own affair.
There are plenty of loudmouths on a racecourse who will be happy to tell you what they are doing and how much they are winning. It is usually advisable, if it is of any interest at all, to divide the amount they say they bet by at least five and any winnings by 10.
The point is that the majority of punters who frequent our racecourses and others around the world are discreet. Their betting business is their own affair and they go about it quietly and diligently.
The introduction of cash betting vouchers was an excellent idea because it made the whole process of placing a bet much more efficient and less time consuming.
Likewise, the Jockey Club's vast Telebet operation made it possible for punters to remain at home and bet in comfort. And it was also possible to bet from overseas.
Now overseas accounts have been effectively terminated and customers turned away just as turnover declines. It is illogical.
The Jockey Club's attitude to computer syndicates, as they are termed, is also mystifying.
Let it be said immediately that I do not know the people who run these syndicates nor do I care a whit about them.
In fact, any person or any operation that manages to reduce the sport of racing to numbers, facts, figures and whatever else goes into a computer, strikes me as utterly boring.
However, it may well be profitable and it is not illegal. Nor has it been suggested, as far as I know, that any of those involved in these computer syndicates have been doing anything underhand.
The biggest threat to racing has been illegal bookmakers and their operators who do attempt to influence races by bribing jockeys, as recent court cases have made us all too aware.
The Jockey Club does not act as a bookmaker. It operates a totalisator system and takes its cut of the turnover. The more that goes in, the better for everyone involved.
There is now a ceiling on cash vouchers with the nonsensical situation where if bets over a certain sum are placed, or winnings collected, it cannot all go on one ticket. Essentially, all that does is annoy customers.
The Jockey Club is there to run a racing service, not a police force.
This is not to suggest that there should not be checks and balances in place. But much of what has happened recently smacks of an over-reaction to a problem that scarcely exists.
And it's costing the Club in terms of cash and goodwill.
The racing media and, by extension, the Jockey Club's customers can give the most sincere thanks to the stipendiary stewards' department for a quite superb innovation.
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Sunday October 31 1999
Jockey Club's silence speaks volumes
Robin Park
THE Jockey Club no longer has overseas Telebet customers because of a recent requirement of proof of residence in Hong Kong.
Until recently, it was possible to open a Telebet account with a passport and there were a number of account-holders, primarily in Australasia and India, who used the service.
The Jockey Club will not say how many such accounts were maintained or what percentage of the total turnover they accounted for, which is fair enough as it is very much their own business. But it is now a guessing game as to why the change came about.
Acting on instructions from on high, or most likely the betting division, information secretary Wilson Cheng could not give an official reason for the changes which in reality mean the termination of overseas Telebet accounts.
It remains possible to open a Telebet account with a passport.
'But we would also require some form of proof that the holder was in Hong Kong for a period of time. And also that he had a Hong Kong bank account,' said Cheng.
One suggestion made was that the Jockey Club, which has taken a stance against overseas interests getting any Hong Kong betting dollars, would look decidedly hypocritical by taking in overseas money themselves. However, there is more than a slight difference in the respective cases.
The Jockey Club has never actively advertised for customers - home or abroad - while there is aggressive promotion from overseas betting concerns in relation to football and Internet betting. Fairly obviously, it must mean that the Jockey Club wants to know almost exactly with whom they are doing business.
Big overseas punters and betting syndicates using Telebet accounts would seem to have the Jockey Club figuratively frowning and saying a firm 'no'.
There appears to be no other logical explanation and we are not going to hear anything official from the Jockey Club.
IT hasn't been the best of weeks for the Jockey Club's Information Department, which has diligently been sending out press releases on a daily basis for Tuesday's Melbourne Cup.
But news is of little use if it is over 24 hours old, as has been the case for the past week.
Robin Parke THE FINAL SAY THE FINAL SAY
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Saturday January 2 1999
Jockey Club closes foreign accounts
ROBIN PARKE
Two New Zealand Telebet customers had an unwelcome New Year shock when the Jockey Club closed their accounts.
It is believed to be the first time the Jockey Club has taken such action against overseas Telebet account-holders, although it has closed numerous accounts held locally.
One move made headlines 20 months ago when 19 accounts were terminated on the final day of the season when there was a massive Triple Trio jackpot to be won.
One of the New Zealand clients, who requested anonymity, said: 'Two of us have received a notice from the Hong Kong Jockey Club terminating the account and asking for the return of the CIT machines.
'I don't know what we have done and we have written to ask them for an explanation,' he added.
Bookmakers in Britain regularly close down winning accounts.
But with Hong Kong operating a totalisator system, the Jockey Club merely takes its percentage off the overall pool.
Director of betting Henry Chan declined to comment on the issue.
'I am simply not permitted to talk about the betting affairs of the Club and its customers with a third party,' he said.
The New Zealand punter said that he and the other party whose account has been closed had lost money last season but added: 'We have won this season. I don't know if that has anything to do with it.
'Frankly, we are mystified. We are betting from New Zealand, we are not in Hong Kong.' Hong Kong punters turned out in force to welcome in the New Year at Sha Tin yesterday with over 52,000 on course and another 11,000 thronging Happy Valley and the crossover betting facilities at the city track.
Sunday June 15 1997
Mega-punters in $700m Triple Trio ban
By Racing Editor LAWRENCE WADEY and ROBIN PARKE
ON the eve of an expected $700 million Triple Trio betting frenzy, the Jockey Club took the unprecedented step of closing the accounts of the territory's biggest gamblers.
The Club issued a statement confirming that 19 telephone betting accounts were closed yesterday. It stressed the action was 'done to protect the interests of the general betting public'.
It invoked betting rule 4.12 (a), which allows the closing of accounts without explanation.
Although the Club did not name the account holders, it is believed the 19 are used by two major computer teams.
Both computer teams firmly denied any wrongdoing. A spokesman for one said: 'There are many gambling syndicates in Hong Kong. Only very few have been successful.
'The information we use is the same information to which the public has access. It strikes us as unfair that we have been discriminated against.' The teams can put on around 100 bets per race in win, quinella, tierce and race-to-race doubles. They can gamble sums running into the millions.
They would probably have added at least $20 million to this afternoon's Triple Trio pool for the season finale at Sha Tin.
Nevertheless, betting records are set to tumble, with the overnight Triple Trio pool already a staggering $435.8 million.
That is expected to hit a world record $700 million by the start of the third race - first leg of the exotic bet which prompted thousands of punters to flood off-course betting centres until the extended closing time of 9 pm.
'Enormous' customer demand also meant Telebet centres would take Triple Trio bets between 9 am and noon today.
Meanwhile, the Club has told jockeys riding in the Triple Trio races to be on their best behaviour. Chief stipendiary steward Clinton Pitts and his staff visited the jockeys' room at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.
'One of our local stipendiary stewards felt it would be a good idea to bring up the Triple Trio as there has been a lot of talk about it. The jockeys know what they have to do,' Mr Pitts said.
One jockey said: 'It was a friendly meeting but I don't think any of us were left in any doubt that we are expected to give it everything we've got. It's understandable, considering the money involved.' Today's Triple Trio pool, combined with the euphoria of the last meeting of the season is certain to lead to the first $2 billion turnover at a local meeting.
Senior Jockey Club betting official Darryll Plowright said: 'The record is $1.8 billion and that was without a Triple Trio pool of this size.'
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Robin Parke 15/06/99
A derisory fine of $5,000 on trainer David Hayes following the positive dope test on Mughal Palace showed clearly that the Australian was guilty of only the most technical breach of Rule 53.
It is difficult not to suggest that he still paid this modest price for the mistakes of others: the veterinary department of the Jockey Club.
What is the use of having guidelines if they are patently wrong? It is a fact that isoxsuprine in other racing jurisdictions has a cut-off period considerably in excess of the seven days decreed in Hong Kong.
This was widely known - and most certainly by veterinarians in racing - but Hong Kong made no change and that despite the fact that we have the best detection system in the world, so it is said.
The seven-day rule may now be scrapped and it is up to the trainer to decide when to discontinue treatment.
While that may work in the future, the point at issue here is that, in essence, Hayes was misled (obviously inadvertently and not deliberately) by the Jockey Club veterinary department into believing he could administer isoxsuprine up to seven days before a race. And they should have known better, To be certain, Hayes discontinued treatment 11 days before Mughal Palace raced.
It is impossible not to suggest that the veterinary department was culpable in this matter. But only Hayes and owner Syed Hussain Pervez have paid a price.
It is rather too close to the season ending to decide just how good the last nine months really have been for Hong Kong racing. A final assessment may be more accurately made a little further down the line.
But it was clearly overshadowed by the tragic death of Willy Kan and one would like to think there will soon be an announcement from the Jockey Club about a more permanent memorial to her name.
Betting turnover and attendance figures did not make great reading - in light of previous years - but we are scarcely floundering in a financial sink of despair.
Indigenous did mighty things and, who knows, may do even more at Ascot in late July.
And there are some good young horses coming up which should leave us with a sense of anticipation.
Meanwhile, it is definitely time for a break.
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Sunday June 13 1999
Hayes fine may lead to changes
Robin Parke
CHAMPION trainer David Hayes pleaded guilty to a technical breach of the Rules of Racing over the Mughal Palace positive drug test and was fined $5,000 by a Jockey Club board of inquiry yesterday.
Significantly, in the wake of yesterday's hearing and decision, rules relating to administering approved medication to Hong Kong horses could change dramatically.
Hayes cut off treatment to Mughal Palace 11 days before he was due to race, even though the Jockey Club-recommended threshold was just seven days.
In imposing sentence - and a fine which is light for a breach of Rule 53 - the panel of inquiry accepted Hayes' submission that the breach was a technical one.
The panel accepted that isoxsuprine was a drug prescribed by the Jockey Club's veterinary department and that it had been administered by Hayes in line with recommended guidelines.
Director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said: 'The guidelines relating to the administration of approved medication will be looked at. Frankly, the seven-day period should disappear. In most other jurisdictions it is entirely the responsibility of the trainer as to administering or treating horses. If there is then a positive test, it is his responsibility.
'If we scrap the seven-day threshold and a trainer wants to administer an approved medication three days before a race, then it is up to him.
'But he will be aware of what will happen if it then turns up as a positive test.'
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Thursday June 10 1999
Hayes faces inquiry on two breaches of the rules after Mughal Palace
ROBIN PARKE
Angry owner Syed Pervez Hussain is considering legal action following a decision taken by the Hong Kong Jockey Club yesterday to disqualify Mughal Palace after a positive dope test.
Deeply upset trainer David Hayes, who is being charged under two Rules of Racing as a result of the positive test to isoxsuprine, refused immediate comment, but sources close to the champion trainer said he was bitterly disappointed by decisions taken yesterday by a specially convened Jockey Club board of inquiry.
The inquiry into Hayes' part in the highly controversial affair has been adjourned to a later date.
Hussain has arranged a meeting with his barrister today to determine which course of legal action he will take.
'This is simply a clear case of injustice - nothing more and nothing less. I will pursue this with the utmost determination but I cannot say what the exact course will be until I consult my barrister,' he said.
'It may be a case of suing the Jockey Club and their vets or one or the other. I will be suing for the recovery of the prizemoney - and more.
'The 'more' will be the stress this has caused me and the time that I have been forced to spend on it all.'
As expected, a later inquiry disqualified L'Or de Martell Cup winner Whytellyou, trained by Patrick Biancone. The horse tested positive to the little-known drug mephenesin. That race now goes to the David Hill-trained Kowloon Pride, who will go into the record books as a three-time winner of the high-profile event.
As the Whytellyou case, and another involving an anabolic steroid positive test on griffin Rickfield, are the subject of ongoing Hong Kong Police criminal inquiries, there was no further Jockey Club announcement about any inquiry involving French trainer Biancone.
Leading Asian owner-breeder Hussain, who has over 200 horses in his native Pakistan, was pulling no punches.
'It is absolutely wrong that they can do this. It was not anything that was done by my trainer or myself.
'Their vets said what was right and it ended up being wrong,' said Hussain, who has raced horses in Australia, Hong Kong, England and Macau.
'The records clearly show that my trainer discontinued treatment with the medication 11 days before the race and the Jockey Club say that the treatment should be stopped just seven days before the race.' Significantly, the owner was able to point out that cut-off periods for isoxsuprine in other racing jurisdictions often far exceed the seven days that were deemed - and still are - permissible in Hong Kong. The Macau Jockey Club has a threshold of 21 days and in Australia it is a fortnight.
Apart from Pakistan, where he has won the Derby twice, Hussain also has breeding interests in Ireland.
He has raced, in total, four horses in Hong Kong, starting with English sprinter Mughal Prince, whom he bought off ex-England footballer, Francis Lee.
Then came the ill-fated Shadow Dancer, who never saw the racetrack after an injury sustained on the then troublesome training track at Sha Tin. Australian Group winner Trobis has won for Hussain and trainer Bruce Hutchison and finally came Mughal Palace, who has caused a bigger sensation than the rest of them combined.
Champion trainer Hayes is known to be deeply upset - not least because he has a totally impeccable record, unblemished by any hint of equine drug abuse.
Hayes has been charged under Rules 53 and 58(i)(b). The first rule states that a panel of inquiry 'may hold the trainer of the horse responsible for administering the prohibited substance to the horse and may punish the trainer'.
The catch-all second rule states that a trainer shall 'be responsible for all matters pertaining to the running of his stable including stable routine, feeding, security inside the stable and the work of the stable staff allocated to him'.
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Saturday June 5 1999
Jockey Club ready to rule on drug cases
ROBIN PARKE
Jockey Club inquiries into the positive drug tests on the Patrick Biancone-trained Whytellyou and Mughal Palace, trained by David Hayes, will be held within 60 minutes of each other on Wednesday.
Given the complexities involved with Whytellyou, winner of the L'Or de Martell Cup, and the subject now of an official Hong Kong Police investigation, it is likely that the horse will be disqualified and further inquiries will then continue.
If that happens, the L'Or de Martell Cup will be awarded to Kowloon Pride, trained by David Hill, who will go into the record books as a three-time winner of the sponsored event run off on Grand National Night.
Whytellyou tested positive to a little-known drug mephenesen, widely regarded as a 'stopping' agent.
The case of Mughal Palace appears much more straightforward as the prohibited substance involved, isoxsuprine, is regularly used in Hong Kong under veterinary supervision.
Mughal Palace tested positive although champion trainer Hayes had discontinued using the drug 11 days before the horse ran on May 15. The Jockey Club's mandatory cut-off period is seven days.
The Mughal Palace case becomes even more interesting with reports that traces of isoxsuprine remained in the horse's urine until quite recently - and long after the race.
A double from Hayes at Happy Valley on Wednesday night has made him odds-on favourite to retain his title but French ace Biancone is not without a hope.
He is four winners behind and both trainers do stand to lose a winner with the positive drug tests.
Interestingly, Hong Kong Rules of Racing do not make disqualification mandatory in such cases - although it has been the practice to do so in the past when similar cases have arisen.
The stewards do have discretionary powers but the issue is further complicated in that the Jockey Club is now a signatory to the International Racing Conference agreement, which stipulates, in Article Six, that all drug-positive winners will be disqualified.
As there is also legal representation involved in the case of Whytellyou, it is almost certain that the inquiry will not end quickly.
The most likely outcome on Wednesday is that both horses will be disqualified although the Hayes case, on the face of it more straightforward, will be concluded.
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Tuesday May 25 1999
Mystery of doped horses deepens
LAWRENCE WADEY
One doping case was bad enough - but now there are three.
The first, Patrick Biancone's Whytellyou testing positive to Mephenesin, has been well documented and it is understood that the Jockey Club's security department is near to concluding its investigation so that a hearing in front of a specially convened stewards' panel can commence.
There are so many possibilities here that it is hard to second guess the panel's findings.
However, some veterinary sources insist the drug would not calm down a headstrong horse so that it could race better. Rather, they stress, Mephenesin is a stopping drug.
It is possible, but all the same it is very, very hard to imagine a trainer here bothering to administer a drug to a horse in order to stop it.
In the extremely rare likelihood of anyone, trainer or otherwise, wanting a horse to be beaten there are far more obvious avenues to explore first.
Last week, the two other drug cases appeared right out of leftfield.
One is as serious as they come.
The other isn't - unless you happen to be the connections and about to see a mere $500,000 in prize money disappear out of the window.
The serious one involves another Biancone-trained horse, this time the griffin Rickfield, who tested positive to what is believed to be an old-fashioned anabolic steroid in Boldenone.
Coming on the back of Whytellyou's positive, Biancone is not exaggerating the gravity of the situation when he said he had to report the matter to the police 'for the sake of my family and my career'.
There can be no doubt about this. Biancone's career is on the line should he be found to be culpable, but it is hard not to sympathise with a remark he made along the lines of: Does anyone think he'd be stupid enough to give a horse an anabolic steroid which is 100 per cent guaranteed to show up? No wonder he wanted to call in the police and initiate a criminal investigation.
This time it is even harder than in the Mephenesin case to second guess what actually transpired and who did what and what their motives were.
There are so many plots and sub-plots, bluffs and double bluffs that there is as much chance of being right by suggesting it was Colonel Mustard in the library with the lead piping as by suggesting anything else.
But what should not be underestimated is the seriousness of these cases, first of all for Biancone's career and then in their security implications for the Jockey Club, as someone somewhere is beating the system.
The other case involves the recent David Hayes-trained Sha Tin winner Mughal Palace.
He has tested positive to Circulon, which was basically being used to increase the blood flow to Mughal Palace's legs as he'd had niggling training problems.
Hayes, who prides himself on his clean record, and Mughal Palace's owner, the well-known Pakistani businessman and horse breeder Syed Pervez Hussain, insist that Mughal Palace came off Circulon fully 12 days before he was due to race.
The Jockey Club's veterinary department, presumably on the basis of the manufacturer's advice, stipulates that all horses are off Circulon seven days before they race.
So this case looks to be pretty straightforward in how it should be dealt with.
If subsequent tests confirm the positive to Circulon, Mughal Palace must be disqualified.
But should connections lose their prize money? Clearly they should if the reason for the positive is that the dosage was exceeded.
But this is going to be hard to establish as Circulon is a cream and is rubbed on to the relevant area.
If the dosage administered is found to have been the correct, then the Jockey Club must disqualify the horse but fork over the prize money as connections are not to blame.
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Sunday May 23 1999
Club to review doping control
Robin Parke
THE Jockey Club will review its doping control procedures following the incidents involving Patrick Biancone and the David Hayes-trained Mughal Palace.
It is widely believed that the Jockey Club has the most advanced testing system in world racing for the detection of prohibited substances and is proud of its drug-free racing. That image has taken a knock with recent revelations, and further tightening or changing of procedures is in the offing.
Director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said yesterday: 'We must look at the whole procedure and, where necessary, make changes. We do have an excellent laboratory and we are very conscious of the need to keep our racing free of drugs.
'This is a matter of priority.' he added.
The cases involving Biancone - whose Whytellyou and Rickfield recently returned positive tests - and Hayes are markedly different. The Whytellyou case involves a drug that is not available in Hong Kong and is all but unknown. The Rickfield incident is bizarre in that an archaic anabolic steroid was administered - and a steroid would be virtually the first drug to show up in a post-race screening.
Hayes was administering circulon provided by the Jockey Club veterinary department, which instructs that the cut-off period is seven days before a race.
Hayes discontinued treatment 11 days prior to the race on May 15 but traces of isoxsuprine - the generic name - were still found.
Leading trainer Ivan Allan said yesterday: 'There should be a differentiation between drug-free and medication-free racing.
'Circulon is quite frequently used, as are other medications. It is quite likely that the Jockey Club's post-race screening facilities are so good that they are detecting minute traces of the medication.
'What should also be analysed or stated is what effect - if any - that could possibly have had on the horse's performance.' One possibility is that the Jockey Club would pass the entire responsibility to the trainer with no cut-off period laid down.
'It would be the responsibility of the trainer to ensure that the horse did not return a positive test. He would have to discontinue treatment at such a time as to ensure that any urine test would be negative,' said Engelbrecht-Bresges.
Earlier this season, there were moves by the veterinary department to advance the threshold period from seven days to 14 days. This move was opposed by trainers.
The Hayes case, although not necessarily open and shut, suggests that the current cut-off period may be insufficient.
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Saturday May 22 1999
Club probes Palace positive test
ROBIN PARKE
The Jockey Club confirmed yesterday it is investigating a positive urine sample returned last Saturday from the David Hayes-trained winner Mughal Palace as the horse's owner declared that he should not lose the prize money.
The official news came a day after it was reported that Mughal Palace was positive to the drug circulon.
It also came as Hayes, back in Australia, was involved in making funeral arrangements for his legendary father Colin Hayes, who died at home at Lindsay Park, South Australia, yesterday morning.
In related news, the Jockey Club confirmed it was working actively with the Hong Kong Police following a report made by trainer Patrick Biancone into the doping of his two horses, Whytellyou and Rickfield.
If a confirmatory sample of urine from Mughal Palace comes back positive, then the horse will be disqualified - and a vital winner lost for title-chasing jockey Basil Marcus and champion trainer Hayes.
Ironically, the race would go to Ricky P. F. Yiu, who currently trails Hayes by four winners, thus cutting the deficit to just two.
Owner Syed Pervez Hussain stands to lose $486,210, less percentages, and he isn't happy.
'I have to ask why owners, who put millions into racing, be penalised in these circumstances when they clearly have not committed any offence. They should not take the prize money from the owner,' said Hussain, who is one of Asia's biggest owner-breeders with over 200 horses in his native Pakistan.
Hussain's point is that the generic drug isoxsuprine is prescribed by the Jockey Club's vets with a seven-day cut-off period before a horse races. It is accepted that Hayes stopped using circulon - a trade name - 11 days before Saturday's race.
But the Hong Kong Rules of Racing are inflexible and if the confirmatory sample is positive, Mughal Palace will be disqualified.
Director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said: 'It will be a thorough investigation. There is a seven-day threshold but there are also limitations on the amount of circulon used per application. It must he checked - if it is possible - that the amounts used did not exceed those permitted otherwise the trainer is clearly at fault. Usage over the prescribed amounts would affect the threshold period.' Engelbrecht-Bresges met officers of the Serious Crimes Bureau yesterday along with Security Department personnel as the Hong Kong Police began their investigation into the double doping.
Biancone had made the report to Sha Tin police station on Thursday night following the official announcement that the archaic anabolic steroid, boldenone, had been found in urine from unplaced griffin Rickfield, who ran last Saturday.
Engelbrecht-Bresges said: 'We will willingly co-operate with any law enforcement agency and everything will be made available to the Hong Kong Police.' Biancone was surrounded by the media at Sha Tin yesterday morning but was completely unruffled by the previous night's dramatic events.
'I did what I had to do and I thought long and hard before I did it. I have my career and my family to think about,' said the French trainer.
The substance did not show up in a pre-race test for Rickfield because the horse could not urinate - leading to a change in procedures.
Blood samples have been taken from horses unable to urinate but these are not as reliable. Now, if a horse pre-race has not urinated, a post-race sample will be taken - not matter how long it takes.
Wednesday December 29 1999
Furious Hayes threatens legal action over television comments
ROBIN PARKE
Champion trainer David Hayes is taking legal advice over comments made on a weekend television programme.
Hayes, who saddled up a longshot double at Sha Tin on Sunday, will be sending a tape of a Cable TV programme to his lawyers.
The affable Australian is a hard man to upset but when several owners told him of comments made on the show, he decided to pursue the matter.
'It is in Chinese, so obviously I do not know what was said. But I do know what my owners told me and, in my opinion, it is damaging to me.
'I do not know the person who made the comments but it is my intention to give the tape of the show to my lawyers and see if they feel there is a case to answer.
'Yes, I am upset and if the legal advice says it is actionable then I will go ahead with it,' stressed Hayes.
The comments were made by racing writer Carlos Wu and are said to concern Hayes' last-race winner, Top Light.
Hayes will have two runners in the Millennium Cup, the final event on a special eight-race New Year's Eve programme, and the Jockey Club was yesterday going through final preparations for the event.
Sunday March 29 1998
Two lucky $5 bets share record Triple Trio payout
By ROBIN PARKE
TWO Telebet customers shared a record Triple Trio dividend of $133,576,963.
While the enormous payout was for a $10 unit, the Jockey Club announced there had been two winners, each holding a $5 unit.
The previous top dividend of $70.8 million was paid on May 31, 1995.
Club information officer Leo Kwan said: 'We know there are two $5 winning units but we will not be releasing details of how much the winners staked or how they did it until after claims have been made and processed on Monday. Both bets were lodged through Telebet.' The Jockey Club had been predicting a dividend of more than $100 million as Triple Trio fever swept Hong Kong in the 48 hours leading up to the big Gold Cup meeting at Sha Tin.
With cut-off time for off-course bets at 8.30 pm on Friday night, the last chance for punters was to go to Sha Tin or Happy Valley racecourses yesterday.
And they did - boosting attendance at Sha Tin by nearly 30 per cent. Normal Saturday attendance is just more than 30,000 but yesterday it shot up to 39,570.
Betting windows were designated to take only TT bets during the three hours of selling up to the 2.30 pm post time for the first leg.
Another 12,054 were at Happy Valley, a healthy increase on normal Saturday crowds.
A sure indication that the TT and the thirst for a slice of the huge jackpot was the reason for the increased attendance was the sudden departure of thousands of people towards the railway station after the running of the second leg.
When Race Four produced two long-priced place-getters, there were only $780 worth of live tickets from a pool that closed at $139,618,000 going into Race Six.
Monday November 1 1999
Curbs on betting illogical
ROBIN PARKE
The Jockey Club has seen betting turnover drop and yet it turns away customers and makes life difficult for others.
For a business centred solely on betting, the Jockey Club has shown a manifest lack of understanding when it comes to actually knowing what many of its customers, large and small, actually desire.
It's called anonymity. And that is not another word for skulduggery.
It is said, probably tongue in cheek, that you can criticise a man's wife but not his horse. It certainly is bad form to inquire about a man's betting business because it is very much his own affair.
There are plenty of loudmouths on a racecourse who will be happy to tell you what they are doing and how much they are winning. It is usually advisable, if it is of any interest at all, to divide the amount they say they bet by at least five and any winnings by 10.
The point is that the majority of punters who frequent our racecourses and others around the world are discreet. Their betting business is their own affair and they go about it quietly and diligently.
The introduction of cash betting vouchers was an excellent idea because it made the whole process of placing a bet much more efficient and less time consuming.
Likewise, the Jockey Club's vast Telebet operation made it possible for punters to remain at home and bet in comfort. And it was also possible to bet from overseas.
Now overseas accounts have been effectively terminated and customers turned away just as turnover declines. It is illogical.
The Jockey Club's attitude to computer syndicates, as they are termed, is also mystifying.
Let it be said immediately that I do not know the people who run these syndicates nor do I care a whit about them.
In fact, any person or any operation that manages to reduce the sport of racing to numbers, facts, figures and whatever else goes into a computer, strikes me as utterly boring.
However, it may well be profitable and it is not illegal. Nor has it been suggested, as far as I know, that any of those involved in these computer syndicates have been doing anything underhand.
The biggest threat to racing has been illegal bookmakers and their operators who do attempt to influence races by bribing jockeys, as recent court cases have made us all too aware.
The Jockey Club does not act as a bookmaker. It operates a totalisator system and takes its cut of the turnover. The more that goes in, the better for everyone involved.
There is now a ceiling on cash vouchers with the nonsensical situation where if bets over a certain sum are placed, or winnings collected, it cannot all go on one ticket. Essentially, all that does is annoy customers.
The Jockey Club is there to run a racing service, not a police force.
This is not to suggest that there should not be checks and balances in place. But much of what has happened recently smacks of an over-reaction to a problem that scarcely exists.
And it's costing the Club in terms of cash and goodwill.
The racing media and, by extension, the Jockey Club's customers can give the most sincere thanks to the stipendiary stewards' department for a quite superb innovation.
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Sunday October 31 1999
Jockey Club's silence speaks volumes
Robin Park
THE Jockey Club no longer has overseas Telebet customers because of a recent requirement of proof of residence in Hong Kong.
Until recently, it was possible to open a Telebet account with a passport and there were a number of account-holders, primarily in Australasia and India, who used the service.
The Jockey Club will not say how many such accounts were maintained or what percentage of the total turnover they accounted for, which is fair enough as it is very much their own business. But it is now a guessing game as to why the change came about.
Acting on instructions from on high, or most likely the betting division, information secretary Wilson Cheng could not give an official reason for the changes which in reality mean the termination of overseas Telebet accounts.
It remains possible to open a Telebet account with a passport.
'But we would also require some form of proof that the holder was in Hong Kong for a period of time. And also that he had a Hong Kong bank account,' said Cheng.
One suggestion made was that the Jockey Club, which has taken a stance against overseas interests getting any Hong Kong betting dollars, would look decidedly hypocritical by taking in overseas money themselves. However, there is more than a slight difference in the respective cases.
The Jockey Club has never actively advertised for customers - home or abroad - while there is aggressive promotion from overseas betting concerns in relation to football and Internet betting. Fairly obviously, it must mean that the Jockey Club wants to know almost exactly with whom they are doing business.
Big overseas punters and betting syndicates using Telebet accounts would seem to have the Jockey Club figuratively frowning and saying a firm 'no'.
There appears to be no other logical explanation and we are not going to hear anything official from the Jockey Club.
IT hasn't been the best of weeks for the Jockey Club's Information Department, which has diligently been sending out press releases on a daily basis for Tuesday's Melbourne Cup.
But news is of little use if it is over 24 hours old, as has been the case for the past week.
Robin Parke THE FINAL SAY THE FINAL SAY
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Saturday January 2 1999
Jockey Club closes foreign accounts
ROBIN PARKE
Two New Zealand Telebet customers had an unwelcome New Year shock when the Jockey Club closed their accounts.
It is believed to be the first time the Jockey Club has taken such action against overseas Telebet account-holders, although it has closed numerous accounts held locally.
One move made headlines 20 months ago when 19 accounts were terminated on the final day of the season when there was a massive Triple Trio jackpot to be won.
One of the New Zealand clients, who requested anonymity, said: 'Two of us have received a notice from the Hong Kong Jockey Club terminating the account and asking for the return of the CIT machines.
'I don't know what we have done and we have written to ask them for an explanation,' he added.
Bookmakers in Britain regularly close down winning accounts.
But with Hong Kong operating a totalisator system, the Jockey Club merely takes its percentage off the overall pool.
Director of betting Henry Chan declined to comment on the issue.
'I am simply not permitted to talk about the betting affairs of the Club and its customers with a third party,' he said.
The New Zealand punter said that he and the other party whose account has been closed had lost money last season but added: 'We have won this season. I don't know if that has anything to do with it.
'Frankly, we are mystified. We are betting from New Zealand, we are not in Hong Kong.' Hong Kong punters turned out in force to welcome in the New Year at Sha Tin yesterday with over 52,000 on course and another 11,000 thronging Happy Valley and the crossover betting facilities at the city track.
Sunday June 15 1997
Mega-punters in $700m Triple Trio ban
By Racing Editor LAWRENCE WADEY and ROBIN PARKE
ON the eve of an expected $700 million Triple Trio betting frenzy, the Jockey Club took the unprecedented step of closing the accounts of the territory's biggest gamblers.
The Club issued a statement confirming that 19 telephone betting accounts were closed yesterday. It stressed the action was 'done to protect the interests of the general betting public'.
It invoked betting rule 4.12 (a), which allows the closing of accounts without explanation.
Although the Club did not name the account holders, it is believed the 19 are used by two major computer teams.
Both computer teams firmly denied any wrongdoing. A spokesman for one said: 'There are many gambling syndicates in Hong Kong. Only very few have been successful.
'The information we use is the same information to which the public has access. It strikes us as unfair that we have been discriminated against.' The teams can put on around 100 bets per race in win, quinella, tierce and race-to-race doubles. They can gamble sums running into the millions.
They would probably have added at least $20 million to this afternoon's Triple Trio pool for the season finale at Sha Tin.
Nevertheless, betting records are set to tumble, with the overnight Triple Trio pool already a staggering $435.8 million.
That is expected to hit a world record $700 million by the start of the third race - first leg of the exotic bet which prompted thousands of punters to flood off-course betting centres until the extended closing time of 9 pm.
'Enormous' customer demand also meant Telebet centres would take Triple Trio bets between 9 am and noon today.
Meanwhile, the Club has told jockeys riding in the Triple Trio races to be on their best behaviour. Chief stipendiary steward Clinton Pitts and his staff visited the jockeys' room at Happy Valley on Wednesday night.
'One of our local stipendiary stewards felt it would be a good idea to bring up the Triple Trio as there has been a lot of talk about it. The jockeys know what they have to do,' Mr Pitts said.
One jockey said: 'It was a friendly meeting but I don't think any of us were left in any doubt that we are expected to give it everything we've got. It's understandable, considering the money involved.' Today's Triple Trio pool, combined with the euphoria of the last meeting of the season is certain to lead to the first $2 billion turnover at a local meeting.
Senior Jockey Club betting official Darryll Plowright said: 'The record is $1.8 billion and that was without a Triple Trio pool of this size.'
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