Tasmanian Hall Of Fame thoroughbred trainer Barry Campbell has been disqualified for three years at the conclusion of the long-running Eastender/Adelaide Cup inquiry.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
South Australian stewards on Friday found Campbell guilty of three charges related to the raceday treatment of Eastender which resulted in the horse's late scratching from the $400,000 race.
The Spreyton trainer's stable foreman Tania Coward was disqualified for a total of 18 months on two charges of being a party to the offences.
Campbell and Coward could have been disqualified for up to five years, as that is the mandatory minimum penalty in South Australia for the most serious of the charges.
However stewards have the discretion to reduce mandatory penalties if the circumstances warrant and did so in both cases.
Stewards also deferred the start of the penalties for one week to allow Campbell to get his affairs in order.
The three charges against Campbell were 1) raceday injection of Eastender with potassium 2) raceday treatment of Eastender with potassium and 3) conduct intended to corrupt the outcome of a race.
He pleaded guilty to the first charge and not guilty to the other two.
Stewards found all three charges sustained and issued disqualifications of 12 months, 12 months and three years to be served concurrently.
Campbell is certain to appeal but it's unlikely he can be granted a stay of proceedings given his guilty plea to the first charge.
Eastender had been second favourite for the Adelaide Cup at the time of his withdrawal, having won the Devonport, Hobart and Launceston Cups earlier in the year.
HARNESS UPSET
An aggressive drive by Brighton trainer Ray Pullen saw lightly-raced mare Brystabella score an upset win in the Granny Smith Prelude at Devonport on Friday night.
In a six-horse field, Brystabella eased from $21 to $26 in the fixed-odds market and paid $36.80 on the tote.
Pullen settled the mare in second-last place from her wide draw but went forward with two laps to go to pressure the leader Sheza Bettormak.
Although Sheza Bettormak initially held him out, Pullen persevered and Brystabella got to the front at the 1200m.
She was challenged and briefly headed by the heavily-backed Ideal Bliss ($3.70 to $2.50) at the 400m but fought off that mare and went on to score by almost four metres.
The $50,000 Granny Smith final will be run at Devonport on Sunday week along with the $50,000 final of the Raider Stakes which had two heats on Friday night.
