Ban stays for former pacing champion
Former pacing champion Lindsay Harper has been indefinitely warned off racetracks worldwide just days before his nine-year disqualification was due to end.
Racing and Wagering WA's integrity assurance committee yesterday issued Mr Harper, 54, who was banned in 2005 for conduct detrimental to the harness industry, with the warning-off notice.
His disqualification was due to end tomorrow.
RWWA general manager of racing integrity Denis Boravica said there were no new circumstances that led to the warning-off notice.
"It was just on the basis of past history," Mr Boravica said.
Full details of the reasoning behind the committee's decision will be disclosed within the next month. Under RWWA regulations, a warning-off notice can be imposed on a person who "may be prejudicial to the proper conduct or control of racing".
An inquiry into the assault of a farrier at Mr Harper's stables led to a five-year ban in 2005.
Mr Harper broke the rules of the disqualification less than four years later by working at a stable and entering racetracks in the US.
As a result, stewards restarted the five-year ban.
Mr Harper was WA's premier reinsman when he set a then-State trotting record with 240 winners in the 2001-02 season.
His son Kyle, a pacing trainer-reinsman, launched a tirade against RWWA in a post on Facebook.
He said the decision was a disgrace.
