Appeal Decision Opens Door For Training Return

FORMER Group 1 winning trainer Mark Azzopardi is free to reapply for his training licence after the NSW Racing Appeals Tribunal drastically reduced the disqualification he was serving for prohibited substance positives.

In 2017, Greyhound Racing NSW (GRNSW), the regulator when the positive swabs were returned, disqualified Azzopardi for 22 years after finding him guilty of prohibited substance offences.

Azzopardi didn't front the stewards' hearings into the matters at the time which resulted in the hefty penalty being handed down by the then regulator.

READ: Disqualified group 1 trainer fighting for shot at redemption

In 2022, following six years on the sidelines, a contrite Azzopardi launched a long running and exhaustive legal battle to have the penalty revisited.

At the heart of Azzopardi's legal team's argument was unchallenged medical evidence that he "suffered from depression and a substance abuse disorder" which at the time "undermined his motivation, judgment and ability to act on information and capacity to pursue legal proceedings".

Last December, Azzopardi was successful in gaining approval from the Racing Appeals Tribunal to lodge a fresh appeal against the penalties imposed by GRNSW at the time. 

The Racing Appeals Tribunal then heard that appeal in May and on Tuesday, chairman Justice Geoff Bellew SC, handed down his decision which saw the original penalties "quashed" describing them as "manifestly excessive, in the sense of being unreasonable or plainly unjust".

In handing down the new penalties, Mr Bellew reduced an amphetamine positive from nine years and nine months to six years while a caffeine positive was reduced from 13 years to six months. 

Mr Bellew ruled the penalties were to be served concurrently and not cumulatively as was the case with the original decision set by GRNSW stewards.

As a result, Azzopardi's penalty period, which commenced on December 22, 2016, concluded on December 21, 2022, opening the door for Azzopardi to now reapply for a training licence with the Greyhound, Welfare & Integrity Commission (GWIC). 

When handing down his determination, Mr Bellew declared "he had no doubt Azzopardi's motivations (to return) are well founded and genuine." 

"Mr. Azzopardi impressed me as a person who has undergone significant (and apparently successful) rehabilitation from an addiction to prohibited drugs, and who is genuinely remorseful for aspects of his past, both within and outside the greyhound racing industry," Justice Bellew said.

"I unreservedly accept his evidence that he is motivated to return to the industry because of his affection for greyhounds, and with an intention to provide for his family.

"Whether he is permitted to do so will be up to others (GWIC) in the first instance, but I am in no doubt that his motivations are well founded and genuine."