NZ jockey admits friendship with drug fugitive

SYDNEY - Expatriate New Zealand jockey Jim Cassidy has revealed he is a close friend of Melbourne drug fugitive Tony Mokbel.

Cassidy, who rocketed to fame piloting Kiwi to win the 1983 Melbourne Cup, posted his 99th group one win on Red Dazzler at Caulfield in Melbourne on Saturday.

But he had racegoers buzzing over his disclosure in the Melbourne Herald-Sun newspaper that Mokbel is a man he respects.

Mokbel fled Australia at the end of a Supreme Court trial last March and is subject to an international police hunt.

In his absence, he was sentenced to 12 years' jail, with a minimum of nine years, for importing 2kg of cocaine from Mexico in 2000.

"I've got nothing but respect for him," Cassidy told the newspaper.

"What he did in his personal life was none of my business but as a person he was fantastic to me.

"There are a lot of people out there who aren't genuine friends."

Cassidy was questioned in 2001 by Victorian racing stewards about secret police tapes in which several jockeys, including Cassidy, had been heard speaking to Mokbel, a big punter at Melbourne tracks.

Cassidy wouldn't tell media at the time whether he knew Mokbel, but has now told the Herald-Sun that Mokbel is a friend.

"I told Des Gleeson [stewards' chairman] that I'd been to his mum's place; the family were friends of mine.

"What he was into was no business of mine. I didn't know.

"Had I known that do you think I would have been here and there?

"As a person Tony Mokbel wasn't anything but fantastic to me.

"How do you know what people get into these days? I certainly wasn't doing anything wrong.

"I think if you scrutinise all racing people, a lot of media, a lot of the so-called hierarchy in racing, I bet they don't all mix with clean skins."

In 1995, Cassidy was disqualified by racing stewards for breaking regulations by tipping for financial gain and bringing racing into disrepute. The sentence was later reduced to a 21-month suspension.

When he came back it was Might And Power who led him to the top again with wins in the 1997 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups followed by the Cox Plate in 1998.

- NZPA