Harness driver Greg Bennett acted 'for trainers'
Date
December 5, 2013


Rick Feneley
News and features writer

Greg Bennett: The leading harness driver has pleaded not guilty to six counts of giving or offering a bribe. Photo: Wayne Venables
When the boss of harness racing called in a corrupt steward to confront him about race fixing, his employee allegedly told him: ''It's not like somebody's died.''

Harness Racing NSW chief executive Sam Nati also alleges the steward, Matthew Bentley, ''basically asked me, 'Why? Did you want to be in on it?' ''

Mr Nati was giving evidence on Wednesday at the trial of the leading harness driver Greg Bennett, who has pleaded not guilty to six counts of giving or offering a bribe.

Days before Mr Nati's encounter with Mr Bentley on August 8, 2011, someone firebombed the car of the then chairman of stewards, Bill Cable, who had been investigating corruption in the industry.

Mr Cable told the trial he had been investigating complaints about Mr Bentley and another corrupt steward, Paul O'Toole, and he had their phone records among other documents in the boot of his car when it burst into flames with ''a loud boom'' 10 metres from his bedroom about 11.30pm.

A murky underworld of horse doping and crooked officials are providing the backdrop for this case at Downing Centre courts.

But Mr Bennett's barrister, Charles Waterstreet, attempted to demonstrate that his client's name was not among a long roll call of allegedly corrupt figures mentioned by Mr Bentley and Mr O'Toole on that August 8, two years ago - the day both stewards were called in and, during separate meetings, told they could resign or be sacked.

Mr Nati agreed that Mr Bentley had described harness racing trainers as ''desperate'' and ''********'' during that meeting. He also agreed with Mr Waterstreet that Mr Bentley had said Mr Bennett acted ''through his trainers''.

Also at those meetings was Reid Sanders, who had only started work on August 1, 2011, as HRNSW's new regulatory manager. ''An introduction to hell,'' Mr Waterstreet suggested.

Now the head of integrity and chairman of stewards, Mr Sanders described Greg Bennet as a ''very famous'' harness racing driver and as being ''akin'' to the star thoroughbred jockey Damien Oliver.

He confirmed the names of industry figures - identified in court only by their initials - who Mr Bentley and Mr O'Toole had named as corrupt. Mr Sanders agreed the pair had not mentioned Mr Bennett. Mr Cable also said an unnamed informant had not named Mr Bennett.

Mr Sanders said he asked Mr Bentley about the motive for his corruption. Was it for money or drugs? Mr Bentley had replied: ''None of those. I wear Armani suits. I've inherited $1.8 million. It's not about money.''

But Mr Nati said that Mr Bentley had said Mr Bennett was involved in corruption for trainers for whom he worked. ''Horses were allowed to compete, knowing they wouldn't be drug-tested,'' Mr Nati said.

An expert witness, Racing Victoria's head veterinarian Brian Stewart, explained how ''drenching'' before a race gave horses more stamina. This typically involved feeding them - via a tube through the noses to their stomachs - a ''milkshake'' of sodium bicarbonate, icing sugar and water.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/harness-d...l#ixzz2mYr9brZp

Milkshaking went on in Melbourne in the eighties to such an extent, that horses transferred to a certain stable improved half a lap. I remember going to Moonee Valley to look at a champion come off the horse float, and the tyres were covered in milkshake dust. I also remember a TV interview with a certain leading trainer who was putting his performances down to a new water treadmill he brought in from the USA, unfortunately in the background shot there was a pallet of sodium bicarbonate

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Star harness racer Greg Bennett pleads not guilty to bribery charges By RICK FENELEY Dec. 6, 2013, 3 p.m.
Star harness driver: Greg Bennett. Photo: DAVID TEASE
Two allegedly corrupt racing stewards used prepaid mobile phones, registered under fictitious names, to discuss the fixing of races, a court has heard.

Police linked five non-work mobiles to steward Matthew Bentley and one to his colleague Paul O'Toole. They also intercepted calls between the star harness driver Greg Bennett, of Woonona, and other people in the racing industry.

Mr Bennett has pleaded not guilty to six counts of giving or offering a bribe to Mr Bentley. His trial, in the Sydney District Court, heard on Thursday that Mr Bentley used his succession of secret mobiles between January 1, 2010, and August 8, 2011 - the day Harness Racing NSW confronted Mr O'Toole and Mr Bentley about race-fixing and terminated their employment.

Mr Bentley's phones were registered under five different names - including Luke Walsh from Double Bay, John Butler from Warwick Farm and a John Smith - but none of them were real people, police analyst Eric Burgess told the court.

Mr Burgess also analysed calls on the mobile used by Mr O'Toole which was registered under the name Nathan Milne.

Mr Bennett's barrister, Charles Waterstreet, noted the coincidence that Mr O'Toole's mobile and one of Mr Bentley's phones were bought on the same day and had the same carrier and the same pre-paid service. ''Very curious,'' Mr Burgess agreed.

Had he asked Mr Bentley if he bought Mr O'Toole's mobile? Mr Burgess said he did not have contact with Mr Bentley.

The court has heard background expert evidence about race fixing, including the ''drenching'' of horses to give them more stamina.

This typically involves a practice known as ''milkshaking'', whereby they are fed a sodium bicarbonate solution, an alkalising agent that neutralises their lactic acid and so allows their muscle cells to work for longer.

The court has heard Mr Bentley had been keeping ''shabby company'' among racing industry figures while he was a steward, and that he had referred to trainers as ''desperate'' and ''********''.

Steward Chris Paul gave evidence about a race meeting at Penrith on April 28, 2011.

He was acting as chief steward and Mr Bentley was one of another two on his panel of stewards.

Mr Paul told Guy Newton, for the Crown, it was not unusual to delegate decisions about the pre-race or post-race swabbing of horses to test for any doping, but he could not recall whether he had given this job to Mr Bentley on the day.

Mr Waterstreet, when discussing Mr Bentley's ''plethora'' of mobile phones, read out a number that did not appear on the prosecution's list of phones with fictitious owners.

He asked Mr Burgess, the police analyst, if it was familiar.

''That phone number rings a bell,'' Mr Burgess said.

''Indeed,'' Mr Waterstreet said.


The trial continues.

SMH.COM.AU

Harness racing driver Greg Bennett cleared of bribing corrupt steward
Date
December 11, 2013 - 10:28PM


Rick Feneley
News and features writer

A jury has found champion harness racing driver Greg Bennett not guilty of bribing a corrupt steward, who the defence cast as a silver-suit-wearing mudslinger who told a "big fat lie" to shift blame from himself and possibly other crooked industry players.

One recipient of the "mud" was the chief executive of Harness Racing NSW, Sam Nati, who the disgraced former steward, Matthew Bentley, described groundlessly as the "cocaine king" during his evidence at Bennett's trial in the Sydney District Court.

Late on Wednesday, a jury of eight men and four women took only minutes to return a verdict of not guilty on all six charges against Bennett of giving or offering bribes. Bentley, who turned Crown witness after striking a deal for immunity against prosecution, had claimed Bennett paid him bribes ranging from $200 to $1000 in return for not drug-testing horses driven by him and trained by his father, Jim Bennett.

Judge James Bennett (no relation) had told the jurors that the Crown case rested on the reliability of Bentley, who Nati had confronted in August 2011 about claims of corruption and told him to resign or be sacked. At Nati's prompting during that meeting, Bentley had named five industry people involved in corruption, but those names – suppressed by the judge – did not include Greg Bennett, defence barrister Charles Waterstreet told the jury.

The jury had heard Bennett and Bentley formed a telephone friendship and exchanged calls even on race days, a relationship that the driver conceded his colleagues may have "frowned upon".

But Waterstreet suggested Bentley courted Bennett to curry favour with the "best driver in the country". The court heard Bennett, NSW state champion for all but one season between 2000 and 2010, described as the sport's answer to Damien Oliver.

The barrister said his client came to the case as an honest man with an unblemished record while "Mr Bentley walks in here as a criminal without conviction because of the deal he and Nick [a private investigator] did with police to get off scot-free and with all the goodies", meaning the proceeds of his corruption.

Jim and Greg Bennett hugged tearfully after the verdict. "After two years, it is a huge relief to clear my name," Greg Bennett said.

He could not say if and when he would return to the track. HRNSW still has to complete its own inquiry into Bennett, separate from the police investigation. But the driver was stood down when the criminal charges were laid and chief steward and integrity officer Reid Sanders – who also gave evidence at the trial – said he would consider Bennett's status on Thursday in light of the verdict.

Nati told Fairfax Media: "I don't do cocaine and never have." He reasoned that, given he was the man who dismissed Bentley, the claim "should be seen for what it's worth – a free hit or salvo".

No evidence was given to suggest otherwise and Waterstreet described the claim as "mud".

Bennett and Bentley spoke regularly by phone but Waterstreet said the steward "cherry-picked" racing records to harvest false claims that the driver bribed him or offered a bribe so he would not swab the horses Mahogany Run, My Bravado, Chiang Mai, Ace-attack Jack, Blaze of Art and The Cotton Club.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horsera...l#ixzz2nFccRDvO