Three-time Hong Kong champion trainer Ivan Allan has delivered another salvo at the Jockey Club for refusing an entry for Olympic Express - describing its response as 'smoke and mirrors'.
'Sorry, but I refer back to the 'shampoogate' incident when Alex Wong Siu-tan was wrongly fined $150,000 and, when faced with a similar situation, I had to raise hell to expose that the veterinary department was the culprit,' Allan said yesterday.
'I respect the director of racing's protection of his staff on all delicate matters but vet Brian Stewart scanned Olympic Express's tendon and gave a very negative report, including that the injury should not be subjected to even a trial. Olympic Express won the trial impressively and did an excellent gallop a week later.
'Brian Stewart then performed another scan which revealed no deterioration, however, he refused to pass Olympic Express. Was he afraid that Olympic Express would run well and expose his inability to decipher an electronic scan? Blow the smoke and remove the mirrors and this is the stark truth.'
Allan said Hong Kong racing was 'living in the dark' on veterinary matters. 'In major racing jurisdictions, veterinary surgeons work for trainers. It is a trainer's call whether he runs a horse.'
On Tuesday evening, the Jockey Club released a statement in response to Allan's first tirade, detailing the injury history of four-time Group One winner Olympic Express, who has not raced since being eased out of the Hong Kong Mile in December.
Signed by executive director of racing, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, the release stated that 'the veterinary history of Olympic Express clearly establishes the horse has problems with the tendons of both front legs'.