Some quotes
“It’s a dreadful look for the sport when our leading trainers are breaking rules everyone knows about. It’s not as if these rules have just come out, they have been around for a long time,” Butt said while talking to Gareth Hall on SEN Track Radio.
“It was a clear breach and is not a good look and casts a pool of doubt over their success on Saturday night. The authorities will deal with it in the appropriate manner.
“But I’m disappointed in the media too, it’s been brushed under the carpet by just about everybody. If this had happened in galloping it would be headline news. It’s not a good look and it doesn’t shine a good light on the stable,” he said.
Are industry participants meant to simply accept the apology as meaning this is the first time the rule has been breached? Or simply the first time Stewart has been caught?
Can you imagine an athlete or high performance coach in another sport being caught red handed breaching a fundamental rule the weekend it had achieved remarkable success, yet only having their highlight reels dished out for five days while the media ignore the elephant in the room? It wouldn’t happen.
Then when the media do decide to get involved, they simply regurgitate the information provided by the alleged offender and applaud them for being transparent and forthcoming. It’s laughable.
The route chosen by the gatekeepers of the sport, that being the mainstream media, further mars public confidence in harness racing and creates the perception of a coordinated effort to paint Australia’s leading stable in a favourable light.
https://harnesslink.com/new-zealand/...-longer-bliss/
It took a NZer to shine a light on it