TOUGH TIMES FOR LES ROSS

A training career of twenty-one years ended in disillusionment at Ipswich last Thursday when Les Ross left the track for the last time in his capacity as a racehorse trainer.

The fact that his only runner on the day came back a winner did little to ease the stress. It wasn’t even a bitter-sweet moment. Ross was devastated at having to leave the only world he has known for the last twenty-six years, five as a jockey and twenty-one years as a trainer (eight of those in Brisbane)... and angry at the situation that forced his demise.

“I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. I’m absolutely anti-drugs. The closest I’m been to drugs is aspro-clear,” said Ross. “So how bad am I for the industry? But the way they treat you, I don’t know if they want us in the game anymore.”

Ross was referring to a sad saga in his life when the ‘they’ that Ross refers to, the racing stewards, revoked his training license for a period of six months following the dismissal of his appeal against a guilty verdict regarding the elevated bicarb reading recorded by Pinelope, a horse in Ross’s care, after it had finished fourth in a race at Eagle Farm on August 13. The sentence came into effect on Sunday, November 2 after an appeal by Ross to have the decision overturned was dismissed.

“I don’t know how the horse got an elevated reading,” continued Ross. “There are bicarbs in all feeds. Whatever got into the horse’s system got into the horse’s system. It wasn’t put there deliberately.

"At the start I was even convinced that they had the wrong horse. That’s why they called for a DNA sample. There was another trainer (Gary Bein) on the same charge. He just put his hand up and copped it. He got four months. I got six months. The more I argued the worse things seemed to get for me.

“But I had to question the way things were handled. The news that I supposedly had a positive swap was leaked and people were talking about it before I’d been informed. People don’t know this, but two stewards had to stand down from the enquiry because of the way things were being handled. How angry would you be if you found out about things that way. It was very disappointing.

“I think the information thing violated procedure. The fact that they had to do a second test to confirm they had the right horse also puts a question mark against whether proper procedure was followed there was well. If everything was done correctly, surely they would know they had the right horse. So I’m a bit dirty about the DNA episode.

“I’m just dirty about the whole game right now, I guess. I think the whole thing was handled badly and the charge should have been chucked out. “My only other ‘índiscretion’ in the last eighteen months was when I treated a horse for colic and the vet assured me the horse would be clear by the time it raced – and it wasn’t. So I picked up a $2000 fine there. Apart from that my record is clean.

“Yet the stewards can make a decision, hand me a six month disqualification, which devastates my life. I’ve got four kids. This is what I do. What am I and the missus supposed to do now. I told the stewards, six weeks or six months, it’s the same thing. It means my career’s over.

“I guess at least I can say that, back in 1988 my first runner came back a winner and now my last runner was a winner. Not many people can say that about their training careers. Not that it means much to anyone in my situation. I’m clutching at straws trying to find something good.

“The horses are gone now. You know people ask whether my owners won’t stick with me if I come back. Owners start off thinking that way and say all of the right things, but when push comes to shove, life must go on for them and the horses have to go to somebody else.

“By the time I would be due to return, I could hardly go and ask for my horses back. I wouldn’t in fact - and I simply can’t start all over again. The bad part of the whole horse transfer business is that I’ve been exposed to more nonsense with some owners disputing some payments that are due. They know I’m over a barrel so it’s not a very pleasant situation.

“She’s A Mountain (the Ipswich winner) was my last runner. Bellegal, who won at the Sunshine Coast on Friday was my horse. You know, it’s a very emotional time watching what is happening around me.

“But that’s it for me. I feel so badly treated. I feel I’m being told I’m not welcome and I’m not going to go where I not wanted.

“I won’t come back as a matter of principle now. I disagree with so much that has happened, I can never put myself in this position again. Maybe I’ll leave an option open to come back and work for someone, sometime in the future, I can’t guarantee I won’t do that.

“I know I’m talking while under a fair amount of pressure, but what is certain is that I really can’t come back as a trainer. The disqualification decision has put an end to that part of my life.”

For the record, Les Ross was charged under Rule AR.178 which states:
When any horse that has been brought to a racecourse for the purpose of engaging in a race and a prohibited substance is detected in any sample taken from it prior to or following its running in any race, the trainer and any other person who was in charge of such horse at any relevant time may be punished.

The threshold for the reading with regard to the Pinelope case was 36,00. There was a 1.00 allowance above that, ie a reading of 37.00 would have been deemed acceptable. Pinelope recorded a reading of 37.8, with a second reading coming in at 38.2.

Ross was found guilty of the charge and he was disqualified for six months.