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Fletcher gets a year

A strange decision this one - either he's guilty of getting a horse pulled up and deserves a long ban, or he's not? The grey area in between seems a bit odd.

Punter disqualified for a year

High profile punter Stephen Fletcher has been disqualified by Queensland stewards for 12 months for having prior knowledge that "Bold Glance was not allowed to run on its merits” in a race at Eagle Farm in February.

Stewards handed out the penalty on Friday after finding Fletcher guilty of a breach of racing rule AR135(c).

Stewards said in evidence during the inquiry that Fletcher "is a close associate of Bold Glance's jockey Bobby El-Issa”, who was recently disqualified for two years over the same matter.

"Fletcher's conduct has the capacity to deter those already involved in the sport from continuing their association, and may discourage individuals from becoming involved in, or wagering on the sport,” a release from Racing Queensland stewards said.



Perhaps reality set in like I suggested last week and they realised imposing a hefty ban would never work, so they've tried to set a penalty which sounds serious to occasional race fans...

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