Darby McCarthy by Lauren Callaway

Author:Lauren Callaway
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ligature Pty Limited
Published: 2021-11-12T10:38:24+00:00

The Black And White Scotch

Whisky Handicap

The form guide for Wednesday, March 31, 1976, listed the race results at Hamilton, trotting at Ballarat and greyhound racing at Olympic Park. Seven races were run in Hamilton the previous day, the daily double paying $11.45 for the selections of number one and seven, Chops in race five, and Matrium in race seven.

Punters at the track would have recalled a slight delay in correct weight after race seven, the Black and White Scotch Whisky Handicap, when jockeys were called into the stewards’ room to review an alleged interference. But a short time later the results were declared as they had passed the post: Matrium three quarters of a length ahead of Blue Bubble, Flash Future in third place. Time 1:37:9.

So what had caught the attention of the stewards during the running of the 1600 metre handicap? Jockey Darby McCarthy, riding Rickshaw’s Luck, had crossed in front of the favourite Blue Bubble, which in turn had caused it to check in and bump against the eventual winner, Matrium. Blue Bubble came in second and McCarthy’s horse ran fifth.

Tom McGinley, one of the Hamilton Racing Club’s official stewards stationed near the 800 metre mark, noted that McCarthy crossed over rather fine. He thought there could have been less than the mandatory two lengths clear between the horses during that particular movement.

Immediately after the race McCarthy was called in before the stewards to explain the incident. Two other jockeys, John Letts on Matrium and Bill Power on Blue Bubble were also called in for questioning. At the conclusion of the interview, which lasted just over 10 minutes, McCarthy was given a ‘run of the mill’ reprimand and told that no further action would be taken against him.

A record of the proceedings stated the Chairman of Stewards as saying:

“McCarthy, look, to put your mind at ease, we are not going to take any action.” With those words suggesting that the matter was finalised, Darby McCarthy left the track by taxi and flew home in the same charter plane that had delivered him there.

A ‘run of the mill’ inquiry by racing stewards? Three months later on June 28, the same tribunal of the Hamilton Racing Club declared Darby guilty of dishonest practices in that he “deliberately conspired” with another to cause interference to Blue Bubble to prevent the horse from winning the race. He was disqualified from racing for seven years, representing no less than the end of his professional life as a jockey.

The events of that fateful day three months earlier had been strung together in the longest running inquiry held by an Australian racing body, culminating in over 200 pages of transcribed evidence. Its revelations were front page news across the country, not only because of the disturbing allegations but also the farcical ‘legal’ process that was being undertaken.

At its conclusion the career of one of Australia’s best jockeys was ruined, a trainer was forced to relinquish his licence and an infamous ‘big punter’ referred to as ‘Mr X’ was warned off all Australian racecourses for life.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.