A senior thoroughbred steward was stood down from his duties ahead of a Tasmanian thoroughbred meeting on Sunday.
Tasracing has confirmed it stood down the steward, who was set to officiate at the eight-race meeting at Devonport.
It would not elaborate on the circumstances that led to his stand-down and has said it will offer no further comment on the matter.
It is not clear what, if any, further action may be pending.
Sources have told The Straight that the experienced steward was not in a suitable state to officiate at the meeting.
It continues a run of integrity and stewarding issues surrounding Tasmanian racing.
Just 10 days ago, Tasracing confirmed it had dismissed three stewards and stood down another after an integrity investigation found they had been betting on races.
The Straight News Desk
An investigation by Tasmanian racing integrity commissioner Sean Carroll established that a number of racing stewards, including the acting chief thoroughbred steward, placed more than 200 bets across a two-and-a-half-year period.
Tasracing said two of the dismissals were for betting-related transgressions, while the third was for serious misconduct.
The Straight is not suggesting that the betting transgressions and Sunday’s stewarding issues are in any way related.
Tasracing inherited the responsibility for day-to-day stewarding from February 1 under a new system which abolished the troubled Office Of Racing Integrity (ORI).
Integrity and welfare functions were split between a newly created Tasmanian Racing Integrity Commissioner and Tasracing.
Any investigation into stewards’ behaviour, as seen in the betting cases, is the responsibility of the Commissioner.
Carroll, who previously occupied a similar role in Victoria, was appointed to the Commissioner role in November last year.
