Benjamin Millar
A horse trainer disqualified from racing for three years over a doping scandal has lost his bid to have his ban overturned.
Joseph Bajada was disqualified by the Victorian Racing Tribunal (VRT) last September following eight charges including attempting to stomach tube a horse on the day it was due to race at Tabcorp Park Melton and giving false or misleading evidence.
He took Harness Racing Victoria (HRV) to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal seeking a review of the ban and thousands of dollars in fines that had been imposed.
But VCAT senior member Anna Dea this month upheld the VRT’s decision to disqualify Mr Bajada for three years over the breaches of Australian Harness Racing Rules.
He must also pay a $1350 fine and faces a further $4500 fine for any further breaches within two years of becoming relicensed.
VCAT heard the breaches were discovered when HRV stewards attended Mr Bajada’s property on June 20 last year and saw him with a piece of tubing inserted into a nostril of a horse called Upanatom and the other end in his mouth.
A blue bucket contained liquid was seen beside Mr Bajada, which he kicked over in an attempt to spill the liquid while the stewards were questioning him.
Mr Bajada was also found to have administered an alkalinising agent within a day of the commencement of a race and not keeping proper log books.
The (VRT) upheld the breaches in a hearing on September 7 during which Mr Bajada pleaded not guilty to all alleged breaches, except that in respect of the log book.
The VRT did not accept Mr Bajada’s explanations for his conduct and found his explanation as to why he was seen with the tubing inserted into the horse’s nostril and the other end in his mouth to be ‘fanciful’.
It found other statements he made to the stewards at the time of their attendance at his property and later that day to have been false and misleading.
In the course of the interviews, Mr Bajada made admissions about administering an alkalinising agent to two horses within 24 hours of race day via their feed.
Mr Bajada’s disqualification period will end on June 19, 2023.
