Trainer to fight three-month ban over expletive-laden Facebook rants

Trainer Norm Loy has vowed to appeal a three-month disqualification imposed by Racing NSW stewards for a social media tirade he posted about the state's premier Gladys Berejiklian's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Loy, based at Albury on the NSW-Victoria border, was banned for three months at a stewards' hearing on Friday, leaving him to question a licensee's democratic right "to have an opinion".

In one post, which was sent on August 14, Loy wrote: "You are the biggest [expletive] moron Gladys beraf###lien [sic]. How can you lock down an entire [expletive] state you stupid [expletive] mole".

On August 26, Loy posted again: "All I can say is you tip turkey looking [removed by ANZ Bloodstock News] should concentrate on your area and leave regional NSW out of your sewer for another two weeks lockdown. Please don't forget her when you vote next".

He was found guilty of breaching Racing NSW's social media policy, the second time Loy has been found guilty of a similar offence.

Loy, who admitted to ANZ Bloodstock News that he was intoxicated at the time of making the expletive-laden posts on his personal Facebook account, said he was upset that some of his clients' businesses were on the verge of closure due to the effects of the lockdown and he used the platform to vent his anger.

"I wrote a few things on Facebook and anyone that knows me knows that I carry on a bit on there. As I say, they never die wondering with me when I put something on there," Loy said.

"The stewards asked me if I did it? One hundred percent I did. I had a bit of a rant on there about the premier. The thing about it is, I put it on my own personal page. I did not share it publicly. Somebody else has snapshotted it – one of my 'friends' – but I don't think it entitles anyone to snapshot and share what I put on my own personal page.

"This is when I said, and I posted again [after the inquiry], there goes democracy, there goes freedom of speech [for] anybody having a thought about anything at all.

"Apparently as a licensed trainer in NSW, I can't have an opinion or can't vent my anger or anything like that. I mean, it is not about racing.

"I have got friends of mine who own horses with me, they are in different businesses and they are going to the wall. I know them personally, they are going to the wall, and I feel for them as well.

"I get very frustrated and sometimes I just put it on Facebook and have a real vent."

Loy initially said he was going to accept the ban, but he has since changed his mind after receiving multiple phone calls from legal representatives who are willing to take on his appeal as they fear the precedent the penalty sets.

Racing NSW Southern District Racing Association chief steward Jason Shultz, who joins Racing Victoria's stewards' panel later this month, defended the action taken by the integrity body.

"It is not so much [about] commenting on politics," Shultz said. "The fact is, they are licensed trainers in a professional sport and they are to conduct themselves in a professional manner at all times.

"Obviously, the trainers and the jockeys are the leaders of the industry and conduct such as this was deemed completely inappropriate.

"Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but there is a right and wrong way to express it and we would say that is the wrong way."

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