Cleaver cuts ties with Racing NSW – integrity operations manager to depart

Racing NSW has lost a key member of its integrity department, with its operations manager quitting to pursue a move overseas.

Michael Cleaver confirmed to The Straight on Tuesday that he had tendered his resignation after an almost two-year stint working with the state’s thoroughbred racing regulator.

He works alongside Daniel Hadley, himself a former police officer who is the general manager of investigations at the Racing NSW Integrity Unit.

A former NSW Police prosecutor, integrity operations manager Cleaver will depart Racing NSW in the second week of June.

“I am heading off overseas. My partner has taken a job over in Norway, that’s where her family’s from, and an opportunity like this doesn’t present itself very often,” Cleaver told The Straight.

“It’s not for lack of love of the industry. So, it’s going to be sort of bittersweet in that respect.

“Certainly, I’ve got a lot of time for racing and the people in it, so it’s sad to put that behind me, but like I said, you don’t get an opportunity like this every day.”

Cleaver has often been Racing NSW’s representative in a number of its Appeal Panel cases, most recently arguing for the stewards in respect to the four-month disqualification of trainer John O’Shea.

The Randwick-based O’Shea won the appeal, with the penalty reduced to two months, before the Racing Appeals Tribunal reinstated the initial four-month ban.

Cleaver was also the man to inform NSW Upper House MP Mark Latham last year that he was to front a Racing NSW inquiry into allegations he had verbally attacked then Australian Turf Club senior executive Steve McMahon at a Rosehill race meeting in April 2025.

He was also a signatory to a letter sent to NSW trainers last year informing them that they would be required to provide personal and business financial information, including tax returns, to be relicensed for the current season.

The outgoing Cleaver acknowledged the strong personalities and difficult decisions he has faced during his stint with the state’s thoroughbred regulator.

“Look, I’ve always been fascinated by the industry, and when I saw that the role had come up, it was something that I thought would be of interest and I got here and loved it from day one,” he said.

“I just think this is the most fascinating sport, and just the complexity of it, the people in it, I don’t think people who are from a non-racing background really have a full appreciation of that.”

Racing NSW declined to comment when contacted by The Straight.