Sarah Moody fined $1500 over tweet

Tuesday 28 June 2016, 12:39pm

Sarah Moody has been fined $1500 over a tweet which Victoria's chief steward felt was slanderous towards him and Racing Victoria's integrity department.

Moody pleaded not guilty to two charges in front of the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board on Tuesday and described the comment, posted on her Twitter account on May 10, as tongue in cheek and a frustrated reaction following the cobalt saga which led to her husband, trainer Peter Moody, being suspended for six months.

Moody's tweet, which the board has ordered her to take down read: "Underbailey TVMovie coming soon The rise & eventual fall of an out of control, no questions answered integrity department, Deception at Epsom".

Victoria's chief steward Terry Bailey is on leave but gave evidence via telephone on Tuesday.

"Obviously in my view it was a slander towards me and the (integrity) department," Bailey said.

With regards to the 'Underbailey' remark, Bailey said his interpretation was "that I'm a crook".

"In my view it refers to the series 'Underbelly' which was a story about crooks," Bailey said.

"...It's disappointing when all you're trying to do is your job and you've got to put up with these personal attacks. It's disappointing."

Moody said she had been frustrated and disappointed over the 14 months of the investigation and charges against her husband.

Peter Moody was eventually found not guilty of administering cobalt with the intention of affecting a horse's performance, but was found guilty of two other charges and suspended for six months.

He has since closed his training business.

Sarah Moody said the tweet wasn't meant to be taken too seriously.

"I think also that Mr Bailey thinks this is a personal attack against him," Moody said.

"I think it's more a frustrated reaction to a long, drawn-out situation I've been involved with.

"It was definitely a tongue in cheek tweet basically just to give myself a bit of sanity relief, I guess."

RAD Board chairman Judge John Bowman ruled the tweet was offensive to Bailey.

Moody said after the hearing, the RAD Board got the fine right.

"I think the racing board got it right. I think on most occasions the integrity department get it right, I was just very disappointed with the way they handled my husband's case," she said.

– AAP

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