Lawyers to again push for Currie deferral

Trainer Ben Currie’s show cause hearing will go ahead despite his counsel asking for a delay.

The show cause hearing involving trainer Ben Currie will commence as scheduled but his lawyers will continue to press for the matter to be deferred.

Currie has been called to front stewards at 10am on Monday to show why he should not be suspended pending resolution of charges against him.

The leading trainer in the state on overall winners, Currie was hit with seven charges on Friday of animal cruelty involving the use of jiggers and shockwave treatment.

He was then given the show cause notice while the Brisbane Racing Club, in an independent move, banned him from attending their tracks at Doomben and Eagle Farm.

Currie already faced 28 charges arising out of a raid on his stables in April and four unrelated positive swab allegations.

His lawyers have written to stewards asking the show cause application be deferred for a fortnight.

They argue the alleged haste in which the show cause application has been called has denied Currie his chance to properly prepare his case.

Currie’s lawyers further argue the animal cruelty charges are at least two years old and that the parties are already in the Supreme Court on Friday for a judicial review involving matters of alleged denial of natural justice.

But the Queensland Racing Integrity Commission is preparing for the show cause matter to go ahead on Monday.

“Tomorrow’s show cause hearing will commence at 10am as advised,” a QRIC spokesperson said.

“The show cause hearing will not be open to the media.”

The hearing is expected to raise several further legal issues.

The onus in show cause hearings is reversed with Currie having to show or justify why he should not be suspended instead of stewards having to show why he should.

It is a complicated set of legal principles which Currie’s lawyers say are difficult for a layman to argue.