Moods

by Helen Thomas

  ‘In several respects, Mr Moody’s evidence was surprising, including his attitude towards cobalt, the limited effort he professed to make to find out the cause of the cobalt reading … the lack of detailed recall by Mr Moody as to how he came to be aware of the “SAS”, notwithstanding the importance of the discovery to his defence of this case, and his apparent indifference or disinterest [sic] as to what might be contained in products which were being used in his stables.

  ‘However, carelessness or even negligence is not purposeful administration. Similarly, mere suspicions are neither direct evidence nor, in this case, evidence from which persuasive inference can be drawn. Thus, while we are satisfied that the prohibited substance found its way into Lidari as a result of something occurring within the stables, we are not comfortably satisfied that Mr Moody administered or caused to be administered that substance for the purpose of affecting [Lidari’s] performance in a race. Accordingly, the charge pursuant to AR 175(h)(i) is dismissed.’

  As Peter Moody leaned forward to talk to his lawyer, the relief on his face was intense. It was as if a light had come back on, and a great weight been lifted from him. This was the accusation that carried the greatest threat to his personal and professional character, and the board had just cleared him of it.

  The panel members were obviously unhappy about significant aspects of his testimony, not to mention the way some things were done at his stable, but they had not been convinced that he gave Lidari a substance to affect his performance in the Turnbull Stakes. It was an extraordinary result; ‘Unbelievable,’ one reporter muttered under his breath. Again, this swashbuckling personality seemed to have beaten the odds.

  But there was no time for celebration. As journalists quietly emailed and texted the news from the hearing room, Judge Bowman moved on to the second charge – that Moody had administered cobalt to Lidari. ‘For this charge to be established,’ he read, ‘it must be proven that Mr Moody administered or caused to be administered cobalt above the threshold level. That it was so detected in the analysis of the urine sample taken from Lidari after the Turnbull Stakes is not disputed.

  ‘As already noted, there is no suggestion in this case of any third-party involvement in Lidari’s test result, as we are satisfied that the prohibited substance found its way into [the horse] as a result of something occurring within the stables. As a licensed trainer, Mr Moody was and is responsible for the horses he trains, including Lidari.

  ‘We find that [his] stable operations were far from satisfactory. Indeed, at times it seemed that the many shortcomings at [the] stables were being presented as a defence to the charges against him. Regardless of the delegation of various tasks and responsibilities within the stable, Lidari was under the care and control of Mr Moody and the buck stops with him. At the very least, [he] failed to prevent the prohibited substance finding its way into Lidari as a result of something occurring within his stables.’

  Suddenly, the verdict on this charge was clear.

  ‘The board is comfortably satisfied that Mr Moody caused to be administered to Lidari a prohibited substance – we find the charge pursuant to AR 175(h)(ii) to be proven.’

  Having done so, there was no need for the board to make a finding on the third charge. Intriguingly, Judge Bowman stated that it was not necessary for the RAD Board to reach a conclusion as to whether Availa was ‘the primary cause’ of the high cobalt reading in Lidari’s post-race sample; in fact, he said, ‘the board makes no such conclusions’. But there were other matters it did want emphasised.

  ‘It is readily apparent from the evidence before us that there was significant carelessness, for which Mr Moody was responsible, in relation to the operation of his stables,’ Judge Bowman read. ‘This was particularly in relation to the administration of cobalt, as well as general feeding, supplementation and injection procedures. Some of Mr Moody’s answers given in evidence underline this high level of carelessness.

  ‘[He] said that he did not even know that there was cobalt in Availa until June 2015. He was ignorant as to the dosages horses were receiving. He left it to others to instruct his staff, his explanation that he is not a “people person”. He said that his understanding of Availa … was and is “nil”. This is notwithstanding that a warning concerning cobalt had been issued and circulated by the stewards months before. It was well publicised that, once the threshold had been reached, cobalt was a prohibited substance – and that the consequences of its administration could be dire.

  ‘Further, Mr Moody stated that, in hindsight, following the initial visit of the stewards in January 2015, he probably should have gone through his whole stable process so as to identify who had been feeding what horses what substances and when. His admission lays bare a clear lack of knowledge on [his] part as to these matters.’

  As if this all wasn’t critical enough, the chair of the RAD Board then focused on the stable’s regime around vitamin injections. ‘The procedure was for someone from the stables to fill the various syringes and place them outside the stalls of the horses that were to be injected,’ Judge Bowman said. ‘At a later time, a veterinary surgeon would come along and administer the injection, apparently without checking and with no direct knowledge as to what was in fact in the syringe.

  ‘How much direct interest Mr Moody took in this procedure is questionable. This reflects poorly on the level of care taken, both by Mr Moody and his veterinary surgeons, Dr Peter Angus and his assistant, Dr Amber Thiel. We appreciate that Dr Angus has worked with Mr Moody and been his principal vet for many years; nevertheless, this seems to be a slapdash method of administering injections. Further, supervision seems to have been at a minimum. That high level of carelessness within Mr Moody’s stables is again evident.’

  *

  Having found the trainer guilty on the lesser charge of administration, and having given him a very public rebuke, the board was now ready to hear the lawyers argue over what penalty he should receive. But not before a break in proceedings, and an impromptu media conference by Moody in the foyer of Racing Victoria’s headquarters.

  Looking dapper in a dark suit, blue striped shirt and matching light blue tie, the trainer was at once relieved and subdued. ‘The pleasing aspect of today was that we were found not to have purposefully administered cobalt to enhance or change the horse’s performance in any one way,’ he said. ‘We’ve always suggested and put forward that we’ve never set out to cheat, or [engage in] fraudulent behaviour or anything like that.’

  Did Moody feel like he had beaten the odds?

  ‘No,’ the trainer replied. ‘I feel in a way I’ve been vindicated, that we’ve never cheated, that we’ve never had to cheat, that we’ve been a highly successful racing stable. Understandably, some of our practices have been called into question, and probably rightly so, and that’s something I need to address. And I didn’t try to hide that fact. Maybe I’d been too successful for too long for my own good, and hadn’t looked at rectifying practices within my stable that, ultimately, probably wouldn’t have allowed this to happen.’

  How much of an impact had the case had on him?

  ‘It’s had a tremendous impact on my business. Financially, it’s been very draining from the legal side of things – and it’s no secret that the quality of horses I now train is significantly less than the horses I trained 18 months ago. We still win a lot of races, but probably with a lot less profiled horses, if you like.’

  The trainer tried to explain how his business had already been hit by the charges and the particular attention they had brought, stressing again the lack of young horses coming into his care. ‘I haven’t lost any business because of this matter,’ he said, ‘but I haven’t gained any either, which is something all stables need. You need new business generating to go forward. So it’s been unforgiving, very unforgiving in that way.’

  Had he changed his stable practices as a result of this saga?

  ‘We have put in place certainly different measures to try to offset the chance
of this happening again. But at the end of the day, we’re dealing with an animal and we’re dealing with humans, [and] we’re all open to making mistakes. Ultimately, I think a mistake has led to this happening, and we try to put practices in place for it not to happen again. But I can’t guarantee it. We’re human.’

  Does he want this next phase to be over quickly?

  ‘Well, listen, this has been 18 months in the making; I think that’s the disappointing aspect of it – for racing, not for Peter Moody only. For racing. My good mate Mick Price has got the favourite for the Golden Slipper; all you buggers should be taking a photo of them, and not me.’

  How hard was it being called a cheat in some circles?

  ‘It’s been disappointing. Being called a cheat by people I work closely with, too. I think those closest [to the stable] know that wasn’t the case, never has been the case. But listen, I’m not going to have any trouble sleeping tonight – but some of them might have to sit down and rethink things.’

  How does he respond to those who might worry this casts a shadow over Black Caviar’s record?

  ‘Listen, it shouldn’t. This is a great caper. She was great for the industry – there’s no reason to even suggest that. I’m very thankful Ray Murrihy [then the chief steward of Racing NSW] … went back and undid the swabs on her and proved that, ultimately, she never received any illicit substance, let alone cobalt. It was there for Racing Victoria to do that – they chose not to, for reasons I don’t know. But thankfully Ray Murrihy did that and showed that there was never an issue with her. You know, I suggest to those people, they should just get out and look for the next Black Caviar, because that’s good for the races.’

  There were other questions too. One reporter tried to tease out how this would affect his relationship with Terry Bailey and his team of stewards; another asked whether the trainer expected a hefty fine, now that the immediate three-year ban was off the table. But Peter Moody had given enough, and retired to eat lunch with his legal team. After everyone returned to the hearing room, it was decided – at Moody’s clear urging – that his penalty would be handed down the following afternoon, one of the few ‘windows’ the board had available before the following week.

  A collective sigh of relief seemed to circulate around the room, between lawyers, stewards and journalists. After almost a year and a half, an end to the matter seemed in sight.

  *

  When the RAD Board reconvened the next afternoon – Thursday, 17 March 2016 – the previous day’s media contingent had more than halved. Now, only those racing journalists who had been there from the start of the hearing were present for the sentencing of the trainer. No matter that this was actually the most dramatic point of the saga for Peter Moody; the mainstream media heard enough 24 hours earlier, when he was cleared of what had become known as the ‘cheating charge’. The fact that he might still be disqualified or suspended, and so be off the scene – if not out of business – for a significant time, seemed not to matter to the general reporters and their chiefs of staff.

  Those who had closely followed the case speculated that Moody could be given a severe fine, if he somehow avoided a suspension. The trainer himself was well aware of the cliff edge he had reached, and for the first time let his guard down just enough to reveal the strain he was under. Despite the day’s 35-degree heat, he went outside to sit, and smoke, as far away as he could be from the small crowd waiting for the hearing to resume.

  He was still smoking, in fact, when his lawyer called him to come back into the main building, as lawyers, journalists, stewards and other observers filed in to take their seats. He slipped on his suit jacket and straightened his tie before walking into the room. He had a small smile for those reporters he knew as he passed, but there was no ‘cantering and looking back’ today.

  Both barristers made swift headway outlining where they stood and what they wanted. Jeff Gleeson QC argued that, while ‘we do not say Peter Moody should be a sacrificial lamb so that a message can be sent’, he was nevertheless ‘a gentleman that needs the clearest of messages … This [offence] is at the very upper range of careless conduct by a trainer and should carry a similarly high sentence.

  ‘He did not say, “The buck stops with me, I should have prevented this happening, I will accept my consequences, but please hear my explanation,”’ Gleeson reminded the RAD Board. ‘We finish where we started: Lidari ran in a Group 1 race chock-full of cobalt. And the message that needs to be sent … is the fact that he caused that to happen, [and that] is viewed with the utmost seriousness by those who regulate this sport. This is a matter for which Mr Moody should be disqualified for [a period] in the vicinity of two years.’

  Matthew Stirling wasted no time in rebutting this, insisting the appropriate penalty should be a substantial fine and no period of disqualification, especially given the trainer had already endured for so long being branded an alleged cheat. Peter Moody’s training operation, as well as his good name, had suffered, with ‘the loss of about one-fifth of his business’ when the deterioration of stock and loss of new horses was taken into account – although, really, Stirling said, ‘we can’t quantify it’.

  When the trainer addressed Judge Bowman and his two colleagues for the final time, he indicated that the situation was actually worse than his counsel had outlined, with a ‘downturn of two-thirds of my business’. ‘I’ve only been given five horses to train in the last year, outside those I’ve bought myself,’ Moody explained. He also assured the board that extensive changes had been made to the feeding and supplementation regimes in his stable, making it ‘as simple as possible’.

  Moody Racing no longer had any need for Availa, he said, because ‘I’ve got no European horses to train’. Few new products had been introduced, and ‘the day after Peter Angus gave evidence, I put in place [a rule] that vitamin injections would be given postrace and [the vets] would do all administering themselves’. Only saline drips were given pre-race now, and the whiteboard was checked at least once a week, if not a couple of times, to ensure that all instructions on it were clear.

  Trainer Mick Price, Moody’s colleague and friend, then stepped up as a character witness. Two days before his two-year-old Extreme Choice would start the favourite in the $3.5 million Golden Slipper, Price had a testy exchange with Jeff Gleeson as he vouched for Peter Moody and his training system at Caulfield. The stable’s practices were of ‘a very high standard’, Price said; ‘I’ve even copied some of his routines.’

  Gleeson: ‘Are you telling the board that you have an intimate knowledge of what is going on in Mr Moody’s stable?’

  Price: ‘Yes, I am telling the board I have an intimate knowledge of what is going on there.’

  And then, almost unbelievably, the board adjourned to consider its penalty, assuring the lawyers a decision might be possible before the end of the day. Half an hour later, Judge Bowman took just minutes to read that decision. A suspension was in order, he said.

  ‘We are of the opinion that, in all the circumstances, suspension is the appropriate penalty – a clear message must be sent. Mr Moody, you are suspended for a period of 12 months, six months of which are suspended for a period of 12 months, provided that you do not commit an offence under AR 175(h)(ii) during the 12-month period of suspension. This six-month period of suspension will commence at midnight on March 24. Lidari must be disqualified from the Turnbull Stakes on October 4, 2014, and the placings are to be amended accordingly.’

  The trainer’s counsel tried to get a week’s extension on the commencement date, to allow Moody more time to organise the future of his horses and staff. But the judge was adamant that the board’s hands were tied; ‘Our problem is the rule says within seven days,’ he noted. Suddenly, Peter Moody was facing a new world order, and had just seven days before it took effect.

  As the three board members filed out, and the legal teams and journalists prepared to leave, Moody called across the room to Terry Bailey, asking if they could have a word. His
request was so unexpected, and so unaffected, that everyone around the two men stopped and looked at them both. The trainer urged them to keep moving; he wanted to see the chairman of stewards alone.

  The racing media gathered in the foyer again, waiting for the pair to emerge from the hearing room one last time. When they did, the horseman squared his shoulders for yet another round of questions. But already the adrenaline was fading and he looked weary, and somewhat battered, as he described his mood.

  ‘Obviously great disappointment – you know, a bit numb, really,’ he said. ‘Suspension gives me a possibility of saving my business in some way, shape or form. But I’ll go home, I’ll have a chat with my wife, my family and my legal team before we decide the next step. I’ve always indicated strongly that I won’t go through an appeal process. I want this matter ended today and without speaking to people outside of who are with me today, that’s how I feel.

  ‘Going forward, it will involve discussions with clientele and Racing Integrity or RVL [as to] how this proceeds. We’ve got seven days to sort it out; we’ve got some 300 horses on our books, a lot of clients to meet and discuss options with. But, first and foremost, I’ll meet with my chief financial officer – my wife – and discuss it further with my legal team overnight.’

  Moody was not ready to discuss the possibility of a caretaker trainer moving into the yard. ‘Ah, well, my wife races probably some 70 horses. So there probably wouldn’t be many bigger horse owners in Australia, let alone Victoria than her. She’ll have to make the decision on what she does with her horses, or ultimately what we do collectively, and put something towards the clientele of Moody Racing with a view to whether it can be held together for a six-month period.’

  He told the reporters, most of whom had worked alongside him for more than a decade, that he had been prepared for this kind of outcome. Yet, unsurprisingly, the more he talked, the more despondent he seemed to become. ‘I, ah … Yeah, I’m not sure what to think, to be honest. I, I have been prepared for something like this – I would have been stupid if I hadn’t been prepared.’ The sixmonth suspension, and the extraordinarily elongated case itself, was a body blow even for this big bloke.