Chechen leader's horse causes cup rumpus
Updated
Australia's richest horse race, the Melbourne Cup, has again produced controversy.
The winner 'Shocking' may have taken home over three million Australian dollars in prize money, but it's the winnings of the third place-getter, Mourilyan, which is generating the most political heat. Greens party Senator Bob Brown is demanding that the Australian government step in and stop the horse's owner, the suspected war criminal, Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov, from claiming his prize.
Presenter:Samantha Donovan
Speaker: Paul Struthers, spokesman for the British Horseracing Authority; Senator Bob Brown, Australian Greens party
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SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Wearing silks in the colours of the Chechen flag, jockey Glyn Schofield rode Mourilyan home to third place in yesterday's Melbourne Cup.
Greens Senator Bob Brown is grateful the Governor-General didn't have to present the trophy to the representative of Ramzan Kadyrov - the Chechen President international human rights groups have branded a dictator and war criminal.
BOB BROWN: Thank God it was third and there were two better horses. It would have been an absolutely appalling thing had it won. As it is, this is $420,000 from Australia going to a dictator with blood on his hands, it just shouldn't be happening.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Senator Brown is calling on the Federal Government to intervene.
BOB BROWN: To see if that money can't go to some better cause than dictator Kadyrov. If it was going to the horse that would be okay, but it's not, it's going to this beast of a man and it shouldn't happen.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: But Bob Brown thinks it's unlikely that the Federal Government will take action.
BOB BROWN: The reality is it's not going to want to offend Prime Minister Putin of Russia who installed this dictator, because they're busy wanting to sell uranium and other things to Russia but at the expense of democracy, of the right of journalists to report on people like Kadyrov without being shot in the face and gunned down in the street.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Senator Brown also wants Australian racing authorities to follow the lead of their British counterparts and consider whether Kadyrov should have any involvement in Australian racing.
Paul Struthers is the spokesman for the British Horseracing Authority.
PAUL STRUTHERS: We are aware of the concern over this particular ownership registration that we've allowed and it's concern that's been voiced well in advance of the Melbourne Cup in newspapers over here.
Now, we are looking to introduce what we would call enhanced suitability criteria for racehorse owners that we can measure their application against and individuals against before granting them the ability as it were to own racehorses in this country.
SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Would it be likely that, assuming those criteria come in, that President Kadyrov would be ruled out of racing horses in the UK?
PAUL STRUTHERS: One thing I would be almost certain of is that his ownership will be reviewed against those enhanced suitability criteria. I think it would be wrong of me to pre-empt what any group that looked at that criteria would decide to do.
