A stable foreman for leading trainer Danny O’Brien has successfully challenged allegations he punched a horse at Sandown at a moment he feared for the safety of his horse and himself.
Stable foreman Michael Blomeley was charged after a Racing Victoria Steward, James Cochrane, alleged he saw him strike three-year-old gelding Redders in the stomach or girth region with a closed fist on January 15 during a series of trials.
Blomeley reserved his plea in an initial hearing but Stewards found him guilty in January regardless, handing him a one month suspension, which was then stayed pending an appeal.
That appeal was heard last week at the Victorian Racing Tribunal.
Blomeley had earlier taken control of Redders after another staff member was struggling to contain the gelding who was fractious.
In evidence, Blomeley denied punching Redders, maintaining he used his forearm to straighten the fractious horse after becoming wedged between the gelding and a concrete wall.
Ultimately, Blomeley and the Stewards agreed on nearly ever detail – just not ‘’the closed fist allegation’’.
According to the VRT ‘’Mr Blomeley outlined that it was his forearm used, not a fist, but stated that in hindsight, he did not like the action he used and the perception of his action was not good’’.
‘’The reason he did so is that he had led the horse from right up the back of the tie-ups and Redders had run himself into a few fences,’’ the VRT said in its published decision.
”Mr Blomeley still thought it was safe enough to continue leading the horse but as they turned around into the laneway before the mounting yard, Redders had run into the concrete wall where the shrubs are and, at that point, Mr Blomeley thought the horse was going to either hurt himself, Mr Blomeley or both.
‘’ Mr Blomeley’s consideration at that time was to bring the horse’s awareness as the horse seemed to have little or no regard for his surroundings,’’ it said.
‘’In hindsight, he had thought about his actions for 48 hours and felt sick about the whole situation as he generally cares about the sport and the welfare of the animals.
‘’He genuinely felt both horse and himself were in a danger and unsafe and there was no malice intended. He stated that he had no alternative as he was not aware of anyone else around them to assist him to move the horse off him bearing in mind as well.’’
The tribunal also heard evidence that using a forearm to redirect difficult horses was commonplace within the industry, and also noted that the manoeuvre caused the horse to settle.
The tribunal also stated that Blomeley was not aware that Cochrane was nearby and therefore did not ask for assistance.
But Racing Victoria Stewards did not accept Blomeley’s explanation to the VRT, and did not accept ‘’that the situation was an emergency and there was no excuse for Mr Blomeley’s actions’’.
But in clearing Blomeley, the VRT found ‘’witnesses gave relatively consistent evidence to the Inquiry’’ but ultimately Stewards had not ‘’proven its case to a comfortable satisfaction’’
‘’This is a word-on-word case and, as stated in the past, which applies to all Tribunal cases. The onus is on the Stewards to prove their case to a level of comfortable satisfaction. The onus of proof never shifts to the Respondent or, in this case, the Appellant. This is a short but difficult case, however, the Tribunal has come to a conclusion that RV has not discharged its onus and proven its case to a comfortable satisfaction,’’ the VRT said in its findings.
‘’Taking all the circumstances into consideration, the appeal is allowed and the charge dismissed.’’
