Is the racing world falling apart?

IT SEEMS the racing world is falling apart. Alleged drug use, a continuing list of betting scandals and heated clashes are forever attached to the legacy of the 2012 spring carnival and, with no Black Caviar to hide behind, horse racing's many ills have been laid bare like never before, reports Andrew Eddy in The Age.He says: Heads, some of them famous, will roll and so they should. Wrong-doers, both licensed and not, will pay the price for their actions or indeed inaction and so they should. Th

IT SEEMS the racing world is falling apart. Alleged drug use, a continuing list of betting scandals and heated clashes are forever attached to the legacy of the 2012 spring carnival and, with no Black Caviar to hide behind, horse racing's many ills have been laid bare like never before, reports Andrew Eddy in The Age.

He says: Heads, some of them famous, will roll and so they should. Wrong-doers, both licensed and not, will pay the price for their actions or indeed inaction and so they should. The racing game will be held to public examination and, in all likelihood, to ridicule over the next few months as offenders are dealt with. The saying of ''no pain, no gain'' is apt but even more so is the observation that while pain is necessary, suffering is optional.

Many in racing fear that such far-reaching scandals will do irreparable damage to the sport's image, but the rusty wheels of justice are turning again and so the ugly process racing now faces may indeed cleanse the industry rather than smear it. Done right, this almighty sweep of the broom can set racing up for a new golden era, where all participants play by the rules and where full disclosure is demanded from officials.

Putting aside the grand deeds of Black Caviar in the first half of the year, at a glance, 2012 has been an annus horribilis for horse racing in this country. This spring alone, five trainers face or have faced charges relating to the Compliance Assurance Team's stable swoops, where they enforce the strict rule banning race-day treatment.

We've had jockey Danny Nikolic, who is at the centre of various inquiries for his conduct in and out of the saddle, disqualified for two years for threatening the chief steward. We have the most famous jockey in the land, Damien Oliver, caught betting on a rival horse. We have more jockeys warming on the back-burner waiting for their turn under the griller for various betting offences. Some will be minor, others career-threatening.

The betting scandals, especially the one involving Oliver, inflict pain that racing needed to take after a period of radical change to the ways we bet. (www.theage.com.au)