EXCLUSIVE: Controversial Queensland racing identity Ben Currie says he will now walk away from racing after an appeals finding over the cocaine horse saga still left him with a nine-month disqualification.
“It’s the only logical outcome (to quit racing),” Currie told Racenet.
“I thought at age 32, I had a lot to offer the industry.
“But it’s clear the industry doesn’t want me – so I just have to move on now.”
Currie’s disqualification period over the cocaine horse saga was on Tuesday cut in half by Queensland’s Racing Appeals Panel.
However, Currie was still left with a nine-month ban, reduced from the original 18-month disqualification imposed by stewards.
Currie had hoped to be cleared on appeal or have the disqualification reduced to a monetary fine.
After repeated battles with Queensland stewards, Currie said it’s now time to look for a new career.
“I’ve put my life on hold for a good five years now and probably spent $1m to clear my name – in the end that wasn’t enough,” Currie said.
The RAP announced two findings on Tuesday morning.
One was to confirm Currie’s guilty finding over the saga when End Assembly tested positive to cocaine post-race after winning a $200,000 stakes race at Eagle Farm last December.
Ben Currie held a restricted stablehand license when End Assembly, trained by his father Mark, won the Gold Edition Plate.
The RAP’s other finding was to vary Currie’s disqualification from 18 months to nine months.
Currie, along with his father, was charged under a racing rule that if a horse tests positive to a banned substance before or after a race, the trainer and any other person who was in charge of the horse at any relevant time has breached the Australian Rules of Racing.
Mark Currie, who was not on course at Eagle Farm on the day in question, was slapped with a $15,000 fine over the matter which has already been reduced to $10,000 on appeal.
The cocaine horse saga has been one of the most sensational in racing history.
Punter Nigel Soden sensationally submitted a statutory declaration saying he was behind End Assembly's failed drugs test, admitting he consumed “two bags” of cocaine before bursting into the winners’ enclosure and petting the horse.
The matter has played out in a year where Ben Currie had been hoping to be relicensed as a trainer after his chequered past in the industry.
End Assembly has been disqualified from the Gold Edition Plate, with Golden Boom the new winner of the race.
Originally published as Ben Currie walks away from racing after having 18-month disqualification cut in half
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