The ACT Gaming and Racing Commission is investigating possible race fixing in a case that involves some of the biggest names in greyhound racing and has left industry bodies in two states at loggerheads, after a rank outsider won a race in which he was not allowed to compete.
It has also emerged that Greyhounds NSW has been aware of race-fixing cartels for years and has gone to considerable lengths to stymie such activity, but will not confirm whether any matter has been referred to the police.
These latest revelations come after former premier Mike Baird's spectacular backflip on banning greyhound racing in NSW, following a massive community campaign against it.
Greysynd Ace, who started at fixed odds of 19/1 in the Canberra race on October 9, 2016, surprised punters by springing from the boxes and increasing his lead to eight lengths by the time he crossed the finish line. The race caller remarked: "The exotics [combination bets] are going to be huge."
It was only after the prize money had been distributed and dividends paid that it was revealed the dog had been given a stand down order in Richmond four days previously and was not supposed to race.
A day later the dog was disqualified and the prize money returned, but it was too late to for those who had gambled on the race, which rewarded those lucky enough to pick the outsider with a trifecta that paid $1077.50 and the quinella $113.10.
Greysynd Ace, trained by Wayne White, was swabbed and came back clear for drugs.
Former greyhound industry veterinarian Greg Bryant said the odds were exceptional considering there were only six starters.
Underperforming favourite Empress Lu was trained by Jodie Lord who, with husband Andy Lord, counts as racing royalty in the greyhound industry, with a 250-dog kennel near Gunning and regular runners at Wentworth Park.
Ms Lord has been disqualified three times for drug-affected dogs.
Empress Lu was not swabbed and stewards raised no concerns about her performance.
"Greysynd Ace never looked like losing even though he was very much the betting roughie," Dr Bryant said.
"One of the questions that needs to be answered is why Empress Lu wasn't swabbed after such a poor performance and being the short-priced favourite.
"Dogs tend to perform fairly consistently as far as times over a set distance at the same track in races, unless there is a collision.
"When it comes to doping, it is easier to slow dogs down than to speed them up, with the advantage that you are less likely to be swabbed."
The ACT Racing and Gaming Commission confirmed it was investigating the race, following concerns raised by the ACT Minister for Regulatory Services, Gordon Ramsay. The NSW State Crime Command organised crime squad also reviewed the matter but said it was referred to GRNSW.
Andy Lord said he could not even remember the race. His solicitor Vince Murphy said he had not been notified of any investigation.
"An outsider has won, which happens every day of the week, and a favourite got beaten, which happens every day in Australia," Mr Murphy said.
"There's all sorts of reasons favourites can run poorly ... That inquiry is going nowhere."
This month Mr Lord refused to sign off on swabs taken on his greyhounds, citing legal advice that a new policy requiring dogs to be given water in the kennels raised the possibility of contamination.
Mr Murphy said there was no rule requiring trainers to sign off on swabs – although the vast majority had done so before GRNSW introduced its water policy.
"That water is not in a controlled environment and it's open to contamination, which means that trainers could get positive swabs," Mr Murphy said.
"The dogs are out of their custody for several hours where [the water] is exposed to environmental contamination, if not deliberate by some crook."
Greyhound activist Gabrielle Openshaw, who discovered the alleged irregularities in the Canberra event while reviewing racing footage, said it was suspicious that no officials in NSW or the ACT had taken steps to prevent Greysynd Ace from racing while under a stand down order.
"To make matters worse, the dog won by a long way and at high odds, and wasn't disqualified for at least a day," Ms Openshaw said.
"Instead of publicly disclosing what has happened, the dog was quietly disqualified from the Canberra race at some later date and GRNSW appears to have covered the alleged errors by amending the Richmond stewards' report."
Greysynd Ace was given an incapacitation certificate in Richmond because his weight varied by more than one kilogram from his previous start.
The usual process is for stewards to enter this information into the official report and the electronic Ozchase database, and record it on the greyhound's race card presented before each race.
A Greyhounds NSW spokesman said the Richmond stewards entered the incapacitation into Ozchase at 4.35pm on October 5, and into their own reports as soon as they became aware of the omission on October 10, the day after the Canberra race.
"It is a matter for the Canberra Greyhound Racing Club to respond to whether they ran an exception report prior to October 9, 2016, which would have identified the incapacitation, or whether the on-course steward inspected the weight card prior to the race meeting as they are required to do so," the spokesman said.
Canberra Greyhound Racing Club said it was conducting its own investigations and declined to comment.
However, Canberra steward Patrick Day told Ms Openshaw in an email that the Richmond stewards had not entered the incapacitation period into Ozchase.
Greysynd Ace trainer Wayne White was unavailable. Owner Warren Owen declined to comment.
RACE-FIXING CARTELS
Greyhounds NSW has been aware of race-fixing cartels for years.
Submissions closed last week on proposed changes to its grading policy that will make it more difficult for greyhounds to circumvent performance trials and advantage well connected punters.
The acting chairman of stewards recommended the change in 2015, explaining in a memo to the general manager of compliance that cartels had changed their modus operandi after a number of trainers were disqualified for presenting dogs affected by ethanol.
One disqualified trainer was now suspected of operating a "sizeable team" of greyhounds under the official name of a professional punter, the chairman said.
"Previously [the trainer's] MO was to impede the performance of his greyhounds with the administration of alcohol, however this methodology has now changed whereby it would appear they are nominating partially educated greyhounds with little racing nous, taking them to non-TAB venues or … Queensland in a deliberate ploy to circumvent Performance Trial agenda."
The document was contained in the papers released after the special inquiry into greyhound racing.
GRNSW declined to answer whether it had reported such activity to the police. It said in a statement: "GRNSW regularly refer matters to external stakeholders such as the NSW Police and the RSPCA. We do not comment on specific investigations."
Internal documents also show a steward analysed 10 suspicious races for the GRNSW board in 2012, where two or three punters collected large winnings on races where the favourite performed below expectations.
They included a race in which one better collected $29,054 on an outlay of $4525, though he did not include the favourite – who ran last by 17 lengths – in any combination of bets.
The steward believed that in some of the races the dogs had been administered alcohol to hinder their chances, and encouraged evidence of such activity to be brought before an inquiry.
"If we were to show the replay of the dog which stumbled its way to the first turn at the Gardens, then totally incoherent attempted to jump the rail, only to be sliced open by the lure cable, it would have to gall the judge as it did with anyone else who witnessed this disgusting act."
He was referring to Sweet Fenoir, whose 2010 race under the tutelage of John Vanderburg became infamous in greyhound circles though it was never proved to be fixed.
Stewards requested that she be swabbed after her wayward performance, but the club veterinarian gave her a local anaesthetic and stitched her lacerations before this could occur.
The race winner, Very Expensive, was swabbed and came back clear, but another dog run by its trainer Matthew Moncrieff tested positive to the "stopper" Timolol in a separate race at the same meet.
Mr Moncrieff was disqualified for six months and fined $1000, reduced to a period of three months disqualification on appeal, with the Racing Appeals Review Tribunal of NSW finding there were "no other circumstances suggesting that he benefited" from his dog running below expectations.
But suspicions lingered and in 2012 GRNSW took the unprecedented step of impounding three Moncrieff dogs and two belonging to another Vanderburg – Wayne – to check their resting levels of ethanol after they performed below expectation at The Gardens in Woy Woy.
The upper limit for ethanol metabolites in greyhounds is 20 micrograms per millilitre. One of Mr Moncrieff's impounded dogs showed a post-race reading of 1119ug/ml of ethanol glucuronide in its post-race sample.
Wayne Vanderburg was disqualified for seven years, later reduced to two years and three months on appeal, though he has not been re-licensed.
A transcript of the Moncrieff inquiry tendered under the call for papers shows that he originally attempted to barter with Greyhound Racing NSW when confronted with evidence that his dogs had raced with high levels of ethanol: if they offered a penalty he could handle, he would agree to plead guilty.
"If you want to put something on the table to suit me … I can walk out of here and we can save a lot of paperwork and crap," he told the inquiry.
"It's either a deal now or this is going to take months... If it goes past today, I'm going to go the whole way – appeals, inquiry after inquiry after inquiry."
But the deal fell at the first stumbling block when the chairman insisted on presenting the elements of the charge before accepting a plea or determining a penalty.
"What a joke," Mr Moncrieff said. "I'm trying to make your life easier. But anyway, do the whole hog. Just remember when you get them barrage of emails, I offered to put it on the table."
He was true to his word. The final appeal was not finalised until last year.
The registered owner of a dog who tested positive for Timelol was Brad Canty, who was named in a 2013 Northern Territory Racing Commission inquiry into a dispute between the bookmaker bet365 and punter Steven Brunker.
The inquiry heard that Mr Canty may have been using Mr Brunker to act as a "bowler" to place the bets for him, since bet365 had closed his own account a few days earlier because it was deemed "uneconomical".
This had enraged Mr Canty, who had threatened to inform the NT government and media that bet365 was in the habit of closing accounts deemed uneconomical, and warned an operator that he would "continue jamming" the bookmaker until his account was reopened.
Asked what "jamming" meant, he replied: "You will get new accounts, you will get raped immediately."