Racing Victoria (RV) Chief Executive, Rob Hines, has issued the following statement in response to the article titled "Police probe racing corruption" in The Age newspaper."We welcome Victoria Police's renewed focus on racing related crime and reiterate the need for a collaborative approach to limit the opportunities for illegal activities in our sport," Hines said."We have been working closely with the Racing Integrity Commissioner, Sal Perna, and Victoria Police for a

Racing Victoria (RV) Chief Executive, Rob Hines, has issued the following statement in response to the article titled "Police probe racing corruption" in The Age newspaper.

"We welcome Victoria Police's renewed focus on racing related crime and reiterate the need for a collaborative approach to limit the opportunities for illegal activities in our sport," Hines said.

"We have been working closely with the Racing Integrity Commissioner, Sal Perna, and Victoria Police for a number of months on this matter and have been cooperating fully with them."

Mr Hines reiterated the comments of Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton who stated today that their probe into race fixing pertained to one race only, that won by Smoking Aces at Cranbourne on 27 April 2011.

"The allegation pertains to one race at Cranbourne and we are now waiting for the Victoria Police investigation to reach a stage where we can legally obtain information that can be used as evidence to open a stewards' inquiry," Hines said.

"Racing is a huge industry and the majority of people who participate and interact with our sport do so in a legitimate manner, but, as in all walks of life, there will always be a small minority who attempt to break the rules. That is why we invest significantly in our Integrity Department.

"Over recent years our Integrity Department has significantly boosted the review of betting patterns to complement the stewards' raceday review of the conduct of over 4000 races run annually, all of which occurs under the auspices of the Australian Rules of Racing. Every year we spend over $4 million to maintain the integrity of Victorian racing.

"However, VCAT determined in 2010 that stewards do not have jurisdiction over unlicensed persons, including punters and commission agents, and thus RV's powers in dealing with matters such as that alleged are limited.

"We would welcome greater powers for stewards to pursue matters of concern, in particular those involving unlicensed persons."