RACING SCANDALS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18341, 6 March 1923, Page 4

RACING SCANDALS.

INCIDENTS IN AUSTRALIA.

"RINGING-IN" AND DOPING.

[FEOM Ot'R OWN CORRESPONDENT.]

SYDNEY. March 1. The turf world of Australia has recently been excited with several scandals concerning "ringing-in" and '.'doping" of racehorses.

In Melbourne investigations into the cause of the wanderings of the trotter known as Mambrino Chief have brought the detectives on to. the fringe of what looks like some very extensive turf frauds some of the most extensive in the history of Australian racing. They extend from Brisbane to Perth, including Tasmania en route, and overlap into New Zealand. An allegation has been made to the police that Mambrino Chief is not Mambrino Chief at all, but another horse from another sire—Woodbine, by Ribbonwood. A man has been arrested in Melbourne and charged with having stolen the horse in Tasmania. Investigations are also being made in Western Australia in connection with a case of ringing-in in that Sr,ate with a horse called Magnet. Race day came and Magnet won. At the same time suspicion was raised in the minds of the officials. Magnet's time was fast. The fact that ho was in, racing company disturbed him not at all. The officials could not believe that he had never seen a race track before, so they instituted inquiries all round Australia. Presently ' word came from Brisbane that Magnet was not Magnet at all, but a Queensland hcrse, which had run second in the Brisbane Thousand under the name of Von Chief. Brisbane in turn had made inquiries and had found that Von Chief was not Von Chief, but a horse that had raced successfully in New Zealand under the" name of Don Cesar. The Western Australian stewards made a careful examination of the horse, "and found a brand on the near shoulder. The hair was cut away and the skin shaved, and it was then found that the brand had been tampered with, and tampered with rather clumsily. Originally it had- teen a letter T, with a horizontal letter K underneath it. A portion of the T had been obliterated and an added mark made it into an 0, while the K had been >made to look like an R. The stewards tried to get a man to attend an inquiry, but he did not do so. Eventually they applied to the magistrate for a bench warrant, but when this was issued neither the man nor his horse could be found. It is stated that the name on the declaration with regard to Magnet was the same r.a that of the man arrested in Melbourne in connection with Mambrino Chief. Following investigations into charges of doping in Victoria, a bookmaker's clerk lias, just been sentenced to six months' gaol for having used a syringe on a racehorse.