ALLEGED DOPING

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 704, 2 July 1929, Page 12

ALLEGED DOPING

N.S.W- COUNTRY MEETING BOOKMAKER QUESTIONED Doping of two horses at Denman (N.S.W.) recently supplied one of the greatest country racing sensations for some time. Atropine is alleged to have been used. A Sydney bookmaker and an alleged accomplice have been questioned. Further investigation is pending. In the third race, Miss Aites, one of the best-known performers in the district and the winner of six of her last seven starts, was an odds-on favourite. Her strange behaviour at the barrier, which she would not face, was the first indication of her condition, and during the race she could not gallop. A furlong from home she was pulled up, and her jockey led her back to the enclosure. She was blind, and reared viciously. “Stood” One Horse The bookmakers were subsequently called before the stewards, and their ledgers examined. One volume disclosed the fact that the bookmaker had laid only one horse in the race, the favourite, but he pointed out that in the previous event, he had laid only Kennaway, the winner. Hardly had he finished his explanation, however, when the officials learned that Kennaway had practically collapsed in his stall, also a victim of dope. Apparently an insufficient dose had been administered in his case, delaying the effect until after the horse had won. A veterinary surgeon from the Widden Stud, who was on the course, examined the horses, and expressed the opinion that the drug used had been atropine. No trace of its injection could be found, and it is thought that it was administered to the horses on a thistle.

Later, a man who was seen leaving the train with the bookmaker was questioned.

The race club has held meetings at Denman for the past 40 years, and this is the first known doping offence that has ever been perpetrated on the course. ANSWER TO CORRESPONDENT “A.T.,” Thames. —The information you desire is not at present available, but arrangements have been made to secure it.