Time for leadership at Racing Victoria in messy drug saga
Racing needs strong leadership and quickly, as five stables finally learnt their fate this week after being charged by Stewards because their runners had a banned substance in their system, known as Formestane.
The damaging saga, where Racing Victoria presented the possibility the trainers involved cheated, only to fold that highly destructive argument once their vet and star witness admitted serious errors.
Now Racing Victoria concede the substances may in fact be naturally produced by horses. But the damage has been done.
The trainers essentially had no choice but to plead guilty to a presentation charge and have now paid a huge financial price through lawyers, lost prize money and now the fines. They [and Racing Victoria] still have no idea how the substances originated.
The reputation of all five have suffered too. And for what? As Racing Victoria now concede, there is every chance the trainers did nothing wrong.
As Racing Victoria CEO Aaron Morrison famously said ‘’these charges are presentation charges, not administration charges, so no one at all at Racing Victoria is suggesting any actual wrongdoing by the trainers.’’
To say that raised the ire of a few is an understatement.
Especially given his organisation’s own lawyer then went into court and asked for huge fines for the charged trainers to send a message, but to whom or why nobody knows.
Anyone who can make sense of any of that, then you’re one step ahead of most of us.
Moving forward, if a trainer reached out to Racing Victoria and asked for advice on how to avoid a Formestane presentation, what would they say? Nothing, because there is still no answers as to why this cluster of trainers have this substance in their system.
The fined trainers have no clarity moving forward, no idea how the fiasco occurred and there is every chance a litany of Victorian participants have been fined for doing nothing wrong, with even more to come.
Now the politics will play out. The Australian Trainers’ Association are ready to get more heavily involved as scores more of their members are set to go through the same pain. This is exactly why a representative body exists.
The Racing Integrity Commissioner says she is watching closely.
But the impetus is surely on Racing Victoria to act.
Supporters of Morrison often say that if he was given a clear runway, he could show his true leadership credentials.
As five trainers lick their wounds and pay a heavy price, and scores more of his participants are set for a lengthy legal battle, there is no better time for him to standup and ensure this mess is cleaned up. At the end of the day, the buck stops with him.
The GOAT makes for good TV
The transformation from champion jockey to elite racing commentator is near complete for Damien Oliver.
Oliver was sensational talent on Saturday for racing.com. His analysis of the now infamous Caulfield track mid-meeting on Saturday said it first – the surface simply wasn’t racing fairly.
He is often detail orientated, fair, researched and of course qualified in his opinions. He isn’t afraid of a strong take either, but it’s never too harsh or unfair and always backed by detailed rhetoric.
Word is that Oliver works incredibly hard off-screen for Ladbrokes to ensure he is over-prepared and his work on Saturday and generally is top-notch. Having him around when J-Mac broke his record too was handy, life is about timing after all.
Oli and Hutch bring you the latest on the track condition at Caulfield 🙏
📺 Ch. 78/68, Foxtel 529, Kayo or via our app pic.twitter.com/x4QHXIm6Hc
— Racing.com (@Racing) March 21, 2026
Small fields raise fresh questions over night racing
Despite cutting the number of meetings during summer and autumn over the past two seasons, evidence suggests Racing Victoria needs to go further.
In the absence of The Valley while it’s renovated, night racing has struggled. Stakes races run with small, uninspiring fields and little fanfare. The old saying absence makes the heart grow fonder may be true in the case of The Valley.
Friday night’s Cranbourne meeting isn’t a relocated Valley meeting, as many have been, but it’s again drawn small fields, which can’t be good for turnover.
It’s also the second week in a row Racing Victoria have had to delete a race from the Friday night program, with the originally scheduled 1200m Maiden scrapped at acceptances, despite receiving 38 nominations.
Last Friday saw field sizes of 4, 7, 7, 9, 5, 7, 8, and with only 69 acceptors, some accepted elsewhere, this week’s meeting is also set to come up light.
Small fields and only seven races in the prime time night slot won’t be helping Racing Victoria’s bottom line. It might also have many at Epsom Road considering further meeting cuts as the schedule for 2026-27 is being drawn up.
Stars of our sport shine
The stars of racing, sport and Sydney were out to celebrate the James McDonald documentary on Monday night.
Promoted and hosted by Racing NSW, the launch received widespread media coverage.
J-Mac and his star accomplice, Autumn Glow, are exactly what racing needs to continue to grow throughout much of Australia.
McDonald, the world’s best rider, is often generous with his time when the media come knocking but it’s his heroics on the track that do the talking.
But dare I say it’s Autumn Glow who could again bring racing to the mainstream highs we’ve seen with other champs of the track.
She’s not only undefeated, but it’s the way she wins too that has appeal. Racing is lucky to have her.
TB was right
When news originally emerged that 9-year-old jumps sensation Constitution Hill might come for a Melbourne Cup, racing.com’s Terry Bailey wasn’t having it. He could barely contain his laughter, in fact.
‘’The world’s gone mad,’’ he said. ‘’I’ve got him $15 just to get a hoof on the plane’’.
For those who missed it, Constitution Hill’s trainer clearly agrees, saying his horse wouldn’t go to Melbourne ‘’in a million years’’.
Could the champion hurdler be Melbourne Cup-bound? 👀 pic.twitter.com/vdpqNOmsmL
— Racing.com (@Racing) February 24, 2026
Farewell Stefi
Who says trainers don’t create a bond with their horses?
Bjorn Baker farewelled Stefi Magnetica on Wednesday, who at just five, is headed to the breading barn.
Going by his statement, Baker was fond of the mare.
“She has a personality to match her ability, and those who know her well will understand exactly what we mean when we say we developed a certain fondness for her fierceness in the barn,” he wrote.
As an aside, given her two Group 1 wins and one Group 2 victory, it’s surprising when looking back she only won five times across her 26 starts.
