KEY POINTS:
Eyebrows were raised the night Darci Brahma was named three-year-old of the year.
On the night of New Zealand racing awards in September a New Zealand Press Association report said: "There was a surprise winner of the three-year-old category, with the honour going to Darci Brahma.
"Many might have expected Wahid, winner of the New Zealand Derby and the Levin Classic, to get the nod as top three-year-old."
That proved to be the start of fallout from the bombshell that was to follow. It was later exposed that Wahid had received more voting points than Darci Brahma, yet did not win the award.
The 65 racing media and racing administrators who voted in the category gave Wahid 165 points, and Darci Brahma 136.
It turned out their decision was secretly overturned by a three-man panel that oversaw the panel.
The connections of Wahid were angered. New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) officials were highly embarrassed. An independent inquiry was commissioned.
The inquiry revealed deceit, a wall of silence, lapses of memory, an attempt to influence voting, conflicts of interest and yet found the decision to promote Darci Brahma was within the rules of the awards.
A rule said a three-man panel which oversaw the voting had the power to determine the winner - but the panel took the rule far too literally.
The panel was there simply to check for things such as voting irregularities, the inquiry said.
Wives of connections of Darci Brahma had been among the voters, the inquiry found.
That was just one example of a conflict of interest; another was that one member of the panel had a horse with Darci Brahma's trainer.
The inquiry revealed the syndicate manager of Darci Brahma asked for voting papers to be re-issued when the horse topped a section of rating system, known as the Free Handicap.
The request was declined.
Panel chairman Brian Kinley told the inquiry he could not remember certain events. One NZTR staff member, concerned at the mounting pressure from the media, said Kinley told him NZTR should maintain its "agreed position of silence".
The same staff member, communications manager Simon Cooper, told NZPA before the truth was revealed that Darci Brahma had gained more votes than Wahid. He later gave a similar line in a television interview.
The matter remains unresolved.
Kinley, a NZTR board member, has not spoken in full to the board on the matter and there have been threats of legal action. Kinley is himself a lawyer.
Wahid was a star performer of the 2005-2006 racing season. He won six of nine starts, including the Levin Classic and the premier race for three-year-olds, the $600,000 New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie.
The Derby win was part of a stellar year for Taranaki trainer Allan Sharrock, who also produced Bogeyman to win the Wellington and Grand National Steeplechases.
Both the Derby and the Auckland Cup were run in March for the first time, after traditionally being held over the Christmas-New Year period.
The Auckland Cup was won by Pentane who was trained by Lance O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan took up training just two years ago, after his brother Paul moved to train in Hong Kong.
Lance O'Sullivan, a former champion jockey, won the Auckland Cup twice as a rider and Pentane's win was significant in that the horse was having just his 11th start.
O'Sullivan and Pentane were again in the news when the trainer failed to report a skin condition the horse had prior to the Kelt Capital Stakes, in which he was unplaced.
O'Sullivan subsequently had a charge for failing to report the skin condition dismissed, but more was to follow.
NZTR integrity manager Fin Powrie expressed disappointment the charge and that of two other separate charges against jockeys had been dismissed by the Judicial Control Authority (JCA).
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The return fire from JCA chairman John Grant was one of anger.
Grant said Powrie had no right to publicly criticise the decisions and his comments were "tantamount to contempt of an independent judicial body".
Grant added stipendiary stewards needed to lift their game in prosecution if they wished to have charges upheld.
A judicial panel came under fire earlier in the year when it relegated Viennetta to third in the group one New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes.
Viennetta was first the past the post but in the home straight caused interference to the third horse across the line.
While it was possible the third horse, but for the interference, could have finished second, it was seen as a case where the judicial panel should have exercised its right not to change the placings.
Another judicial decision which came in for debate was one that decided to declare a race at Rotorua void when the starting gates of more than half the runners failed to open in unison.
Despite a straggly start, the race went on in earnest and "victory" in the $40,000 event went to Ascot Isle in the hands of Opie Bosson, having just his second day back riding from a 17-month layoff.
The second and fourth horses were among those affected by the faulty stalls.
Ironically, six weeks later Ascot Isle and Bosson got their revenge with victory in a similar event with the same stake on the same track.
Another race start that caused controversy was the Railway Handicap at Ellerslie on New Year's Day, when Sedecrem and Magistra Delecta were both declared late scratchings.
Sedecrem was badly interfered with by Magistra Delecta who became upset in the barriers.
This created much discussion about what constitutes being denied a fair start.
The best answer came from an Aussie. Racing commentator Richard Freedman said once horses were under starters' orders all should take their chances.
Being checked at the start was no different from being checked in the home straight.
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New Zealand racing lost one of its greatest sons when Ken Browne died at his home on June 20 at the age of 72.
Browne had been confined to a wheelchair for five years after a fall from a horse at his Cambridge property left him a quadriplegic.
Canterbury jockey Judy Lawson suffered serious head injuries when she fell in a race at Rangiora on October 23.
She was in a coma for 12 days, was transferred to the brain injury unit of Burwood Hospital in Christchurch about a month ago and is on the slow road to recovery.
Reon Murtha all but ended his 47-year career as commentator in November. He makes his final race calls at Reefton on January 10.
It was at Reefton where he began his career in 1960 and went on to call a record 36 New Zealand Trotting Cups.
The Wahid-Darci Brahma fiasco was not the only embarrassment of the New Zealand racing awards.
An oversight in the jumpers' category was the John Wheeler-trained Real Tonic, who had won two of Australia's biggest races - the Great Eastern in South Australia and the Grand Annual in Victoria.
Real Tonic may well gain compensation next season as he won the Great Northern Steeplechase at Ellerslie in September, after taking out the Pakuranga Hunt Cup at his previous start.
New Zealand had just one victory at group one level in Australia - Gee I Jane winning the A$300,000 ($342,100) Brisbane Turf Club Sprint (1400m) in May.
Afterwards Freedman made the disdainful comment that the Brisbane winter carnival was a good one for the Kiwis to target - in other words the Kiwis were not up to it for the major carnivals in Melbourne and Sydney in the spring and autumn
Funny though how his brother, top trainer Lee Freedman, organised syndicates to pay big money for the likes of New Zealand gallopers Sphenophyta and King of Ashford for his stable. A 60 per cent share in Sphenophyta was sold for $1 million.
- NZPA
