Currie stay application adjourned again

Toowoowba trainer Ben Currie will be unable to have any runners for at least a week after his application for a stay on a suspension for racing rules charges was adjourned until Friday.

Currie had applied for an interim stay until his hearing on Friday but that was rejected.

The ruling means he will be unable to have any horses at meetings listed until at least next Wednesday because of nomination deadlines.

At a stewards hearing on Monday, Currie was charged with 31 breaches of racing rules dating back two years and suspended pending completion of the inquiry.

The charges include illegal race-day treatment, improper practice and using shockwave therapy inside the allowable period before racing.

Queensland Racing Integrity Commission boss Ross Barnett said due to the serious nature of the charges, stewards had ordered that any nomination or acceptance under Currie’s name would be rejected until the inquiry concluded.

Currie’s lawyers filed paperwork at the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday morning seeking a stay to allow Curry to continue training until the charges are resolved.

However, it was adjourned until Wednesday when QRIC made an application to have the hearing adjourned until Friday.

Currie’s lawyers then asked for an interim stay until Friday but after a day-long process, that was denied and Currie remains suspended.

Meanwhile Currie’s father Mark Currie has received a stay on his two-year disqualification.

The stay covers the period until the result of an internal review of his case.

If he is unsuccessful he must reapply for another stay until a QCAT appeal is resolved.

Mark Currie is one of four people who have already been disqualified or suspended as a result of an inquiry opened by QRIC stewards after allegations were made by integrity officers about activities at Currie’s stables on April 7.

Mark Currie was disqualified for two years on 16 charges arising out of the inquiry into April 7 activities and allegations about other horses on March 24.

Ben Currie’s employees Greg Britnell (18 months disqualification), Cameron Schwenke (three months disqualification), and Silde Canda (three months suspension) have all been outed as result of the inquiry.