‘HAVE YOUR SAY’ MAIL BOX CONTAINS SOME STUNNING CLAIMS

A stack of e-mails to ‘Have Your Say at this Website’ certainly suggest that there is plenty of sympathy and support for young Northern Rivers steward, Tate Hudson, sacked by Racing New South Wales earlier this week.

Hudson, 20, was controversially dismissed for allegedly ‘fraternizing with two apprentice jockeys’ who had visited his home to ‘cheer him up after a stint in hospital.’

Hudson maintains there were mitigating circumstances and is taking legal advice on whether to mount a wrongful dismissal claim.

“I feel like I have been abandoned by Racing NSW after they over-promoted me,” said Hudson, who was Deputy Chairman of Stewards on the Northern Rivers.

The haveyoursay@letsgohorseracing mail box was inundated with angry responses. Some were critical of Racing NSW Chairman of Stewards, Ray Murrihy, while others questioned why Hudson was not given counseling or demoted rather than being sacked on the spot.

But the general thread of criticism was directed at far more senior stewards than Hudson who critics claimed over the years have ‘fraternized on a regular basis with licensees’ without any action being taken against them.

Some of the e-mails that we received are impossible to run but we have taken a sample to give an indication of how it would appear a good cross-section of the racing fraternity feels about the action taken against Hudson.

"Tate Hudson was a boy doing a man’s job, thrown in at the deep end in a dog-eat-dog industry,” suggested Greg Anderson of Grafton. “He is then made an example of in a reaction that smacks of grandstanding. Surely he was entitled to a warning or even some counseling if Racing NSW felt he had breached their Code of Conduct for stewards.”

A Northern Rivers owner, who provided his name but asked not to be identified when permission was sought to re-produce his e-mail, had this to say: “A few years back I had horses with a trainer in the north. He had a table at a racing function and invited me to attend as his guest. At the end of the day we retired to a ‘gentlemen’s club’ for a night-cap in the company of several others who had attended the function. Included in that group were owners, trainers, members of the racing media and a couple of stewards. I felt it was good to see stewards and licensees socializing in a friendly atmosphere away from the race track. Having said that, if this young steward was guilty of fraternizing with a couple of apprentice jockeys in the sanctity of his home what the hell do you call stewards and trainers seen together at a lap-dancing club in downtown Brisbane?”

Then there was the trainer (whose name we decided to withhold for obvious reasons), who e-mailed this report: “I attended a couple of sportsmen’s luncheons in (a capital city) that I was told had been organized by a steward. He was certainly there on the day as were some of his colleagues. The only women present were ‘exotic dancers’ who performed during the afternoon.”

We also received an e-mail from a former jockey (name attached) who claimed a prominent steward and leading jockey of his era were long-time ‘drinking buddies.’

Then there was a suggestion that a prominent trainer attended football games with members of a stewards’ panel. Sounds innocent enough but so does a young steward telling apprentices jockeys to stay overnight at his home because they had been drinking.

Needless to say the dismissal of young Hudson has hit an emotional chord with many people in the racing industry. Most sympathize with stewards who work in regional areas where it is hard to go out and socialize without running into licensees. It raises the question of whether stewards should at least be allowed to ‘fraternize’ with industry personnel with two provisos – that they are not alone and that the business of racing is a taboo topic.

These e-mails will no doubt upset the many good stewards throughout this country where there is no argument that we produce the best racing policemen in the world. To them we apologize. .

If Racing NSW, its Chief Steward Ray Murrihy or anyone from Integrity Services at Queensland Racing wishes to respond to the allegations that have been made in the above e-mails they are offered an unedited right of reply on this website. Just send it to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..