Sport is made for betting

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. Perha...

High-flying Sydney punter Steve Fletcher is facing a battle to retain control of his punting empire after being implicated in a Queensland racing betting scandal. $1m punter faces ban FEARLESS Sydney punter Steve Fletcher - the man who was Eddie Hayson's partner in the Great Greyhound Sting of 2005 - could have his gambling operation crippled if found guilty of any involvement in the Bold Glance scandal today. Fletcher, who bookmakers say punts more than $1 million a week across racing and sports, has been charged by Racing Queensland stewards for allegedly being a party to jockey Bobby El-Issa not giving Bold Glance every chance of winning after backing the horse to lose a race at Eagle Farm on February 26. El-Issa was slapped with a two-year disqualification but is currently appealing against the sentence for not showing his usual vigour over the final 200m when Bold Glance was challenged by eventual winner Essington.Fletcher could be warned off racecourses around the cou...

The panic and hyperbole after the Federal Court overturned the NSW racefields legislation case in favour of Racing NSW has been ridiculous. Trainers threatening to move states (from the richest state of racing in Australia to one which has been a basket case for many years, but might just get its hands on a huge wad of cash to piss up against a wall), owners' associations calling for the heads of Racing Victoria for carrying out sound business practice called negotiation rather than wasting years and millions of dollars in court and various Tabcorp press releases handed to their mouthpiece newspapers, particularly the Daily Telegraph, spouting all sorts of crap regarding product fees applying to other sports . Tabcorp, the bed partner of Racing NSW, which somehow manages to cop an exemption from paying the local racefields fees (due to the fees it pays to the government and racing industry under the terms of the privatisation), outrageously also gets exemptions from paying a produc...

As Racing NSW fights desperately to hang onto its ridiculous racefields legislation based on turnover tax and discriminating against competitive operators, Racing Queensland have seen common sense and elected to follow the Victorian model. One-horse maiden against corporate bookies RACING NSW, the men and women who would run racing in Australia (and thank God they don't), has been further marginalised in the battle of philosophies on how best to make all the sport's stakeholders pay their way. The new ruling body of greyhounds, trots and thoroughbred racing in Queensland has struck an important agreement with corporate bookmakers on how to collect fees for using the state's race fields. And it is not the one that Racing NSW has spent a fortune in court fees to establish and defend. Racing Queensland has fallen into line with Victoria and other racing jurisdictions which use a gross revenue formula to collect product fees. The Racing NSW v Betfair and Sportsbet app...