By Mike Dillion
Things have got ugly at the Avondale Jockey Club.
The embattled AJC committee, in the wake of the walkout by president Ivan Sapich, appear to be in disarray.
Trying to get an answer on the petition Sapich's supporters supplied to stand-in president Jim Baddeley, is not easy.
Herald inquires have revealed Baddeley was made aware of a petition the day it was lodged requiring a special general meeting of AJC members to: "consider a vote of no confidence in the acting president Mr Jim Baddeley, nor in the present committee and that a ballot be held within 21 days of this meeting by the members of the club to elect a new president, vice-president and com- mittee."
Baddeley yesterday refused to acknowledge that he was aware of the existence of the originals of the petition on the day it was lodged, January 29, an AJC raceday.
"I was handed photocopies of some documents. When we later discovered the originals in our safe some time later, they were passed on to our solicitors," Baddeley told the Herald yesterday.
"My understanding is that Ivan Sapich and three others ran around asking for signatures," said Bad- deley, who until yesterday had not been able to be contacted since leaving for a holiday after the AJC race meeting on January 29.
"We were not advised of anything official."
Documents leaked to the Herald, signed by well in excess of the required 25 members, show clearly the situation that there is a vote of no confidence in the president (Jim Baddeley), or in the committee and that, under Rule 33, a ballot be held by members to elect a new president, vice president and committee.
Baddeley admits to having found the originals of the petition in the AJC safe a week after Herald inquiries revealed he was advised of their whereabouts.
When pressed whether he had been officially told of the existence of the originals of the photocopies yesterday he said: "You had better contact the club's lawyers."
When contacted last night lawyer Rod Ewen, of Wynward Wood, said he did not have the file at home with him and could make no comment without instructions.
The affair is farcical for one of New Zealand's leading race clubs.
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Paeroa Racing Club secretary Kelvin Russek defends his club's irrigation policy after yesterday's race meeting abandonment.
Rain yesterday morning saw the club call off the meeting after fears a rock hard surface would result in a skating rink.
"Despite the rumours, we do have an irrigation system," said Russek after calling off yesterday's meeting at 10.15am.
"Up to February 3 the track was fine, but we had a sudden dry spell and it became very hard. We put a lot of water on it, but as it turned out it was never going to be enough.
"Our irrigation system works well, but even if we had had Ellerslie's irrigation capability we wouldn't have been able to avoid this situation.
"If the rain had come yesterday, or if it had been torrential instead of steady, it would have been fine."
Russek said the Paeroa club will be saved from a loss on the day by a $200 New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing insurance policy against loss, but he says that does not take into account the $20,000 the club will lose in actual profit.
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Bahnhof Zoo will now have his final lead-up to the $S700,000 ($960,000) Singapore Plate on March 4 in a 1900m trial at Cambridge today.
Bahnhof Zoo was pre-race favourite for yesterday's feature race at Paeroa and his connections had been very keen for him to have a hard hit-out for the toughest assignment of his career.
"But a 1900m trial will hopefully be the same as a 1600m race, " said Bob Vance, husband of trainer Jenny Vance.
Bahnhof Zoo will be ridden in Singapore by Opie Bosson who has previously ridden there.
"But I'm looking forward to riding on their new track at Kranji," said Bosson yesterday.
Racing: No end in sight for Avondale committee's woes
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