Trainer Will Hulbert spent three months and thousands of dollars carefully devising a plan to send his exciting filly from Brisbane to Melbourne to race for $250,000.
What he didn’t plan for was a seven-car pile-up on the Monash Freeway.
That crash, caused by a gang of youths in a stolen car, would ultimately lead to Hulbert being fined $1000 on appeal in the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Wednesday.
He pleaded guilty to breaching AR 228 (a) for using offensive terms “retards” and “poof” in social media posts.
The tribunal heard Hulbert had flown Lady Of Five from Brisbane to Melbourne to be stabled at Pakenham in January this year.
He had then allowed two hours for the filly to be driven to Caulfield Racecourse to compete in the group 3 $250,000 Blue Diamond preview, starting at 12.20pm, on Saturday, January 24.
But the horse’s float was brought to a standstill by a traffic jam caused by the crash.
Police had noticed a Nissan parked in the emergency lane of the freeway, but it sped off as they attempted to intercept it, eventually colliding with six cars before the driver and passenger got out and fled on foot.
When Hulbert learnt Lady Of Five would not make it to the starting gates and had to be scratched, he was livid. He took to social media to fire off multiple posts he would later claim to regret.
“Lady Of Five is fine guys,” he posted on Hulbert Racing’s X account. “We allowed two hours for a 50-minute trip to Caulfield and some retard crashed on the highway and stuffed everything.”
He followed up with: “They’re everywhere … might go and jump in a machete bin, so I don’t call anyone a poof.”
Racing Victoria stewards interviewed the Brisbane-based Hulbert over the telephone two days later – on Australia Day.
They found him guilty of breaching AR 228 (a) – posting material prejudicial to the image of racing. He was fined $2000.
The tribunal heard Hulbert initially pleaded not guilty to the charge. He referred stewards to the Oxford Dictionary to explain why he believed his post was not offensive.
“In the Oxford Dictionary the meaning of retard is ‘delay, hold back in terms of progress or development’, and I was certainly both delayed and held back in terms of progress and development because my horse was stuck on the highway because of a bunch of criminal thug teens,” Hulbert told stewards.
The tribunal heard Hulbert was asked a second time during the January 26 phone call if he thought “retard” was an offensive word in Australia.
“No, not really,” he told stewards. “I’ll go by the dictionary’s meaning. I went to school. I went to a good college. I know what retard means, and I just read it to you.”
Hulbert told stewards the use of the word “poof” in his second social media post was a joke.
Following the stewards handing him a $2000 fine, Hulbert appealed against the severity of the penalty, stating that it was “manifestly excessive”.
His legal counsel, Corey Cullen, told the tribunal on Wednesday that Hulbert’s post could be seen as a one-off.
He said it had since been removed from X.
“He’s certainly remorseful for making those posts in the heat of the moment in reaction to what was, in my respectful submission, youthful delinquents that had stolen a car and caused the traffic accident, shutting down the highway,” Cullen said.
But RV chief steward Rob Montgomery said Hulbert’s initial plea of not guilty, and attempt to justify the use of the word “retard”, was not showing remorse.
“Horse racing obviously operates in a highly visible public environment and is dependent on ongoing public confidence and support,” Montgomery said.
“The language that obviously demeans individuals on the basis of sexuality, disability or discriminatory is completely unacceptable.”
The tribunal, consisting of Magistrate Peter Reardon, Dr June Smith and Dr Andrew Gould, accepted that Hulbert’s actions were made in the heat of the moment and were not directed at a particular person.
“The tribunal accepts that to train a horse for a particular race – involving three months’ preparation, time and effort and expense – is significant, and to have it blown up in your face may be an understandable reaction, but it’s not excusable,” tribunal chairman Reardon said.
“The tribunal is of the view that Mr Hulbert has hopefully learned his lesson and will contain himself in future if unanticipated problems arise, which in the racing industry, unfortunately, is bound to happen – there are many hard luck stories in the racing industry.
“However, the tribunal expects participants in the racing industry to conduct themselves appropriately in public.”
The tribunal upheld the appeal and reduced the $2000 fine to $1000.
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