It has come to light that both Harness Racing NSW and the Police Gambling and Racing Squad are investigating claims that trainers have allegedly had prior knowledge their horses would not be swabbed in certain races.

Two stewards – Paul O’Toole and Matthew Bentley – have resigned after being informed of allegations they had not taken pre and post-race swabs from certain horses in certain races.

There have also been rumours implicating the Bathurst Harness Racing Club [BHRC], but Dwyer points out that the club has nothing to do with the process of which stewards attend their race meetings.

“The club has no input whatsoever when it comes to appointing stewards, that decision is made pure and simply by Harness Racing NSW,” he said.

“We don’t even know until the day that the stewards arrive on course who will be officiating at our meeting.

“How can we be accountable for something we don’t know about and don’t have a say in? It shouldn’t be a slur on the club.”

Before resigning O’Toole did attend race meetings in Bathurst and Dwyer confirmed he had sometimes assumed the role as the Chairman of Stewards.

However, Dwyer also pointed out that O’Toole is employed by Harness Racing NSW and he attended a number of meetings in the region, just not those conducted by the BHRC.

“Paul was being groomed for a position as a permanent steward in the country as part of the whole process of steward regionalisation,” Dwyer said.

“Over the last six months Paul had played a more senior role as a steward here but that is decided by Harness Racing NSW – he could be the chief steward, he could be an assistant to the main steward on any day – and we don’t decide that.”

Dwyer even pointed out that BHRC don’t pay stewards directly, they are charged a fee for service by Harness Racing NSW.

As for the rumours that Bathurst district trainers have been involved in the swabbing scandal, Dwyer says to his knowledge no-one has been implicated.

He pointed out that success on track should not be an assumption of guilt.

“Bathurst does have a number of high profile trainers and trainers that are fantastic at what they do ... to implicate trainers that have had a lot of success is just ridiculous, however wherever there is money and gambling involved there are always going to be rumours,” he said.

“It’s like the saying if you have three winners on a night then you are using something but if you don’t get a winner you can’t train.

“Success shouldn’t and doesn’t mean you are doing something illegal.”

While the BHRC has no control over which stewards attend racing meetings or which horses are then swabbed, Dwyer said all the rumours circulating do hurt his club and innocent trainers.

Not surprisingly he would prefer the talk to be positive – about an impending increase in prize money on January 1, 2012 and the BHRC’s move to build a new 1000 metre track.

“I don’t understand why the talk is just all Bathurst. There are all these accusations but the thing is no-one really knows who is involved and it may be a couple of months before anyone does. At this stage it is purely speculation,” Dwyer said.

“People are jumping to conclusions, unfortunately that’s the world we live in today, but you do wonder where is it all going to end and how much damage is it going to do to the industry over the next few months.

“I do worry about the impact this might have on our club. We have built a club with a strong reputation that has a strong brand within the industry.

“Unfortunately, what has transpired lately is so much out of our control.”

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