RACING NSW will consider new license conditions to counter a perceived conflict of interest between trainer Gai Waterhouse and her bookmaker son Tom in the wake of the More Joyous racing scandal.

ADAM SHAND reports in THE AUSTRALIAN that it’s understood Racing NSW is investigating whether it can compel the Waterhouses to swear statutory declarations that the trainer will not share sensitive inside information on horses trained at Ms Waterhouse’s Tulloch Lodge stable with her bookmaker son and husband.

Tom Waterhouse’s father, Robbie, who is a director in the family’s bookmaking business, would also be asked to sign a statutory declaration.

Racing NSW officials would not comment last night but the racing body is understood to be investigating possible legal avenues to address the conflict of interest question even before Monday’s stewards inquiry on the More Joyous affair.

Authorities are believed to be concerned the controversy may have dented the confidence of ordinary racegoers in the integrity of the sport.

Stewards will inquire into allegations by the owner of More Joyous, advertising millionaire John Singleton, that Ms Waterhouse told her son the horse could not win last Saturday’s All-Aged Stakes at Randwick.

The mare was examined by Racing NSW’s chief vet yesterday amid reports she still had a badly swollen neck.

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys told The Australian last night that vet Craig Suann and an assistant had spent 30 minutes thoroughly checking the horse at Mr Singleton’s Central Coast stud property.

“He also took a blood sample from the mare’s neck region,” Mr V’landys said.

“We want to make sure that the mare was thoroughly checked by an independent source, the results of which will be tabled and discussed at Monday’s stewards’ inquiry.”

After the race, Mr Singleton sacked Ms Waterhouse as his trainer after 26 Group I wins, sparking a public stoush that has become a national sensation.

Nash Rawiller, the jockey who rode More Joyous to second last place that day, told The Australian that he thought Mr Singleton was joking with Ms Waterhouse as he witnessed them clashing before the race.

“I thought it was a joke. Singo often did things tongue-in-cheek and I thought it was a gee-up,” he said.

To rein in the turf’s first family, Racing NSW would have to step around the so-called Waterhouse Amendment to the federal Anti-Discrimination Act, which allowed the daughter of legendary trainer Tommy Smith to be awarded a trainer’s licence in 1992 after nearly three years at war with the Australian Jockey Club.

The AJC had denied her a licence because of her marriage to Robbie Waterhouse, who was at the time warned off racetracks for his part in the infamous Fine Cotton affair of 1984.

The case went to the Anti-Discrimination Board and the Equal Opportunity Board and finally the NSW Court of Appeal before the AJC backed down.

Racing NSW believes the use of statutory declarations might be more effective than the NSW Crimes Act in controlling conflict of interest and inside information.

STORY SOURCE: THE AUSTRALIAN – NEWS LIMITED.