SYDNEY trainer Con Karakatsanis and stablehand father Tony will lodge an appeal to VCAT to rehear charges of conspiring to stomach tube their horse Howmuchdoyouloveme on the day of a Flemington race last spring carnival.

ROD NICHOLSON reports for the MELBOURNE HERALD SUN that their solicitor John Carmody announced immediately after Racing And Disciplinary Board chairman Russell Lewis disqualified Con for nine months and Tony for two years that the pair "disagreed with the verdict and wanted to clear their names."

He said application would be made for a stay of proceedings to allow Con Karakatsanis to continue training.

Judge Lewis said that the pair had conspired to stomach tube the horse before the Yellowglen Stakes on November 3, with the experienced Tony to undertake the procedure and Con to secure the premises in a "premediated joint enterprise."

He said the penalties needed to act as a deterrent to other potential offenders.

Con was given until February 14 to vacate 20 horses from his stables (and other 20 spelling) as well as displace five full time employees and three casual staff.

Tony was disqualified immediately, having been found guilty of three charges and given two year disqualifications on each, to be served concurrently.

Dr Cliff Pannam, representing the stewards, instisted the pair deserved to be disqualified, along the same lines as Queensland trainer Nathan Schofield who received a 12 month disqualification, as a deterrent to others who wanted to cheat the system.

He said Con Karakatsanis had only one transgression (an $8000 fine reduced to $4000 on appeal) for a drug related offence since starting his training career in 2000 and that this charge should be considered a first offence.

However he said the record of his father Tony, a former trainer, suggested he was a repeat offender who deserved double the penalty.

Dr Pannan said that Tony's record as a trainer included a four month suspension for a drug related charge in 1996, an $8000 fine in 2000, a six month disqualification in 2003 and a nine month disqualification in 2006, all related to illegally treating horses under his care.

He said that the board, comprising chairman Russell Lewis, Brian Forrest and Joshua Bornstein, should take the same strong stance they did with Schfield and impose disqualifications as a deterrent.

"Tony has a dreadful record in this area and we ask his penalty be double that of Con," he said.

The pair faced a combined five charges and all agreed that the sentences be served concurrently.

Legal counsel for the pair, Terry Tobin, asked that Con be given "a hefty fine" of the magnitude that would hit the hip pocket and still be a deterrent to potential offenders.

He said the young trainer, who knew nothing outside racing since starting as an apprentice to his father at the age of 15, employed five full-time and three casual staff and paid $6000 week in wages.

"An inability to train (if disqualified) would destroy his business and put others out of work.

STORY SOURCE: MELBOURNE HERALD SUN - NEWS LIMITED.