Moroney drug culture alleged

BY BARRY LICHTER

THE leading Matamata stable of Paul and Mike Moroney is dysfunctional and has a culture of excessive drug use by both staff and horses, say New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing investigators.

At a hearing in Hamilton last week, where the Moroney brothers pleaded guilty to charges resulting from a positive drug test by one of their horses, chief stipendiary steward John McKenzie described the trainers' control and use of prohibited substances as a shambles.

McKenzie outlined a history of drug abuse at Ballymore Stables and dissension among staff which, combined with Paul Moroney's repeated absences, meant the stable had not been managed competently for some time.

And Sunday Star-Times investigations have revealed that Paul Moroney's girlfriend, a former stablehand 30 years his junior, is the latest to be charged with drug offences.

Rose Grace Steeman, 21, who has been living with Paul Moroney in a house at Ballymore, despite being sacked by Moroney's brother, was arrested 12 days ago after a car chase in Matamata and charged with possession of methamphetamine and utensils. She is due to appear in the Morrinsville District Court on March 3.

The revelations come less than two months after the Melbourne Cup-winning trainers prepared Monaco Consul to win the Victoria Derby at Flemington for high-profile owners Owen Glenn and Gerard Peterson.

But Paul Moroney now faces suspension of his licence, McKenzie saying he, not his Melbourne-based brother, is primarily to blame for the "gross negligence."

McKenzie says that given the "activities that have prevailed at the stable," it is not surprising the trainers have incurred their second positive test to the same substance in eight months.

In April the Moroneys were fined after a positive test to the banned drug Indomethacin, contained in an anti-inflammatory CU-Algesic.

And last week they faced identical charges after the filly Mae Jinx, owned by prominent Auckland QC Alan Galbraith, was found to have the same drug in her system when winning at Matamata on December 23.

In the summary read to the hearing last week, McKenzie described rampant drug use at the stable, saying investigators were alarmed to discover that, in early December, at least 40 horses were on the same prohibited substance, used as a muscle relaxant. Its use was curtailed only when concern was expressed by their vets Marks-Ewen.

Investigators found prohibited substances lying around unsecured on dirty benches, open shelves and even in a bucket, in gear rooms at both the main stable and the Moroney barn at Matamata racecourse.

The Moroneys are now disputing the summary of facts presented at last week's hearing.

NZTR has launched numerous drug probes into the conduct of Moroney stable riders in recent months – two Moroney apprentices and two trackwork riders linked to the stable have been investigated.

Mohammed Yusof was banned for nine months last August after testing positive to methamphetamine, before allegedly stealing $20,000 from fellow disgraced jockey Lisa Cropp, also disqualified for using P, and fleeing home to Malaysia.

Track riders Bruce Rhodes and Jamie Beckett were outed after positive cannabis tests.

Moroney apprentice Meo Ahmed Meo fled to Malaysia days after being drug tested in a swoop at the Matamata races – his sample later came back negative.

With Steeman having once been involved with dispensing medication to the Moroney horses, and now facing serious drugs charges herself, it was understandable how mistakes could be made administering drugs at the stable, McKenzie told the Star-Times after the hearing.

It was of major concern that the Moroney procedures were so lax considering they had been ordered to clean up their act after the April hearing, McKenzie told the hearing.

The second positive swab had arisen for exactly the same reasons – out of negligence to pay attention to "bread and butter" issues.

Stable employee Grant Long was in charge of administering medications at the time of the positive swab and he had admitted mistakenly treating Mae Jinx on the Monday, thinking she was not due to race until the following Saturday. The drug, which is administered by mouth, has a recommended withholding time of 96 hours, but was given 52 hours before the filly raced at Matamata on the Wednesday.

Long said while he led the filly to the races himself that day and knew she won, at no time did he give any thought to the consequences of her being swabbed.

McKenzie said the Moroneys' system of recording on a whiteboard the names of horses and when they were racing, so the person administering medications could know when to stop treatment, was a part-measure at best.

No other records were kept on what horses were being given what drugs, on what days and by whom.

While neither trainer was directly involved in the administration of the medication they were responsible for the actions of their staff, McKenzie said.

And while trainers in partnership were jointly responsible, there was valid reason to impose different penalties in this case.

"Mr Paul Moroney must accept a majority of the failure to meet acceptable standards of security and safety were his and his alone ... Mr Mike Moroney was a victim of his brother's ineptness."

Given it was not a case of just negligence but gross negligence, NZTR asked for Paul Moroney's licence to be suspended for three months, along with a $7000 fine. For Mike Moroney, they sought a $3500 fine.

The maximum penalty under newly revised rules allows for a disqualification of not more than five years and a fine of not more than $25,000.

In a written response to NZTR questions, Paul and Mike Moroney explained they had been giving Mae Jinx CU-Algesic because she was feeling the effects of training on firm sand tracks, when wet weather prevented use of the plough track.

The filly was more prone to jarring because of her conformation and had jarred up from her debut earlier in the month.

Paul Moroney said when he noticed many other horses in the stable were scratchy in their actions he implemented a near wholesale administration of CU-Algesic, with the courses to be altered as their racing programmes unfolded – all within the Rules of Racing. The Moroneys said after last April's positive test they took very seriously NZTR's instruction to keep their drugs in a locked facility.

It was only in mid-December that a lax approach to storage crept in again when staff reverted to late morning administration because of work pressure.

The racecourse barn key was apparently misplaced but the fact not reported, the hearing was told.

A double checking system on medications, ordered by Mike Moroney, appeared not to have been implemented.

McKenzie submitted the state of the shelves where the medication was lying was not something that had happened only days before their arrival.

"It was an unruly, messy and negligent way to place medication that should have been safely stowed in a locked cabinet."

McKenzie noted, however, that new stable foreman Dwight Shackelford, who was appointed just a few weeks before the positive test, had been working hard to make the stable function more professionally.

JCA committee chairman Murray McKechnie said he was concerned that Long, through Paul Moroney, had presented a revised statement at the hearing, claiming there were inaccuracies in his original statement, which he said he'd felt pressured to sign by racecourse inspector Bryan McKenzie.

John McKenzie told the Star-Times he did not believe the state of the Moroney stable was a reflection of widespread drug abuse by racing industry workers.

NZTR had a more rigorous programme of testing humans and horses than most other organisations. "The most important factor in our industry is safety – for people working around or on horses."

- © Fairfax NZ News