The lawyer for a journalist facing charges over the cobalt investigations has questioned whether Racing NSW stewards should have jurisdiction over media personalities.
TVN racing channel tipster Brent Zerafa is facing a charge of conduct prejudicial to the image or interests of racing. His lawyer Damien Sheales told stewards that they should not "discipline or have access to discipline the media in this country".
Sheales argued that Australian Racing Rule 175A, under which Zerafa was charged, may not include his client in its terms as it starts "any person bound by these Rules".
"I cannot find that [wording] anywhere else in the rules," Sheales said. "It must be there for some reason."
Racing NSW chief steward Ray Murrihy countered by asking if Zerafa's actions in backing a horse, which he had been tipped but not put in his public selections on TVN, would pass the pub test.
Zerafa faced the charge as part of the long-running Sam Kavanagh cobalt inquiry. Kavanagh, vet Tom Brennan, Aaron Corby, John Camilleri, Mitchell Butterfield and Michael O'Loughlin were all found guilty of various charges on Monday.
Camilleri had tipped Zerafa, who had known him since he was a boy, the Kavanagh-trained Palazzo Pubblico at Randwick on January 17. Zerafa was working for TVN on the day and was giving the mounting yard mail and failed to include the horse in his top selections, which were the second and third placegetters, Rule The River and I Am Zelady.
Zerafa had $200 on the winner, which had allegedly been given a raceday treatment, just before the field jumped. His average bet that day was around $250. Camilleri and Zerafa exchanged text message and the media man sent a message to his friend "like how I threw off in the yard"?
Chairman of stewards Ray Murrihy asked "does that [message] pass the man in the street test?" Zerafa admitted it was probably silly in hindsight but he maintained it was personal message between friends.
"What did you mean by it?" Murrihy asked.
"It was light-hearted. I was playing to his ego and giving him a pat on the back," Zerafa said.
Sheales told stewards Zerafa was an astute punter and his actions weren't those of someone attempting to maximise his winnings.
"The tip from Camilleri wasn't enough for him to back the horse because he could have got $12 when he got [the message]," Sheales said. "He waited until just before the race to back it at the bottom of the market, only after it had shortened. That was the main factor in him backing it."
Camilleri later texted Zerafa "say nothing to no one" about the tips and that it would be "a fill up" to which Zerafa replied "won't all sweet."
Stewards adjourned the inquiry to consider the jurisdiction argument and the charge if necessary until a date to be fixed.
