A greyhound trainer found by a disciplinary tribunal to have flown to the Philippines to buy performance-enhancing drugs for his dogs has been disqualified for six years for breaching Greyhounds Australasia rules.
In a decision handed down last month, the Victorian Racing Tribunal said Newborough-based greyhound trainer Gerry Orr, 63, inadvertently alerted stewards when he gave authorities his mobile phone during an investigation into his greyhound re-homing practices.
The tribunal said a senior analyst with Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) discovered messages from 2019 to a person who ran a website called “Anabolic Jim” and correspondence in 2022 and 2023 between Mr Orr and a medical centre in the Philippines.
The correspondence revealed Mr Orr had purchased performance-enhancing drugs from the clinic, with the tribunal rejecting his claim they had been prescribed for personal use to treat a medical condition.
Though his dogs have never tested positive to the drugs and he was not accused of administering them, the tribunal found that WhatsApp messages discovered by investigators revealed Mr Orr ordered substances permanently prohibited by the greyhound racing industry.
A veterinary witness told the tribunal the substances were worth $9,000.
The tribunal found Mr Orr guilty of four breaches of the Greyhound Australasia rules.
Mr Orr has maintained his innocence to all but one of the charges.
He told the tribunal one of the investigating stewards acted with malice and bias, was not an independent investigator and was giving perjured evidence.
The steward denied the allegations.
“The tribunal has decided that parts of the investigation could have been handled better and more discreetly by the stewards,” Mr Howard said.
Mr Orr is appealing against the decision in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), with a directions hearing scheduled for late next month.
He has declined to speak with the ABC during this process.
Mr Orr is not accused of any criminal conduct and has been found guilty of racing rule breaches only.
Orr ‘inquired about banned drug’
Over a three-day hearing in November, at which Mr Orr represented himself, the tribunal heard from eight witnesses.
The tribunal said the messages sent by Mr Orr regarding the drugs were discovered by chance.
While investigating Mr Orr’s re-homing practices, the GRV senior analyst employed software used by the FBI and found messages between the greyhound trainer and a man named “Jim” in 2019.
Jim was the contact point for a website called anabolicjim.com, the tribunal heard
In the messages, Mr Orr asked Jim if banned drug Stanozolol would work on greyhounds.
He also asked if the drug would show up in post-race urine tests and said the dogs weighed about 33 kilograms.
But, according to the tribunal’s findings, the drugs never showed up and Mr Orr later realised he’d been scammed.
He was subsequently charged under the racing rules with attempting to acquire a permanently banned substance in relation to the messages with “Jim”, a charge to which he pleaded guilty.
Mr Orr was accessing this website, which no longer exists, but never received his order. (Supplied)
Orr sent video of winning dog to clinicÂ
The tribunal heard that three years after his first attempt to purchase banned substances, Mr Orr flew to the Philippines to visit a men’s regenerative and preventative clinic.
The analyst found messages from 2022 and 2023 relating to the purchase of epoetin and somatropin — drugs prohibited in greyhound racing.
During the hearing, Mr Orr told the tribunal he was seeing an overseas specialist because their treatment was “superior” to that of Australian doctors and the drugs had been prescribed to him to treat a medical condition.
But the tribunal ruled the only reasonable inference was that the intended use of the drugs was for his greyhounds.
No prohibited substances were detected in samples taken from Mr Orr’s dogs between 2022 and 2023 and the tribunal did not find that Mr Orr had administered the drugs to the dogs.
The tribunal noted that in February 2023, Mr Orr’s greyhound Animal Kingdom won race 10 at Healesville.
The next day, he sent a video of his winning race to the clinic.
Mr Orr claimed he had been speaking to the clinic about greyhound racing in general and the message was simply showing them his success.
The tribunal heard Mr Orr asked the overseas practitioner to provide a medical letter to allow him to bring the medication into Australia.
Integrity is a priority for Greyhound Racing Victoria, its CEO says. (Supplied: Greyhound Racing Victoria)
In sentencing, Registrar Mark Howard summarised evidence given by the GRV’s chief veterinarian.
“The drugs, clearly in such significant quantities of epoetin and somatropin, allegedly prescribed for iron deficiency, anaemia and adult somatropin deficiency were more likely acquired for racing of dogs, not human consumption,” he said.
“Further, the diagnosis and treatment, if used by a person with Mr Orr’s purported conditions, are questionable.
“An Australian citizen has access to a world-class health system, which includes access to PBS [medications] for anyone with a Medicare card, where these drugs are available when treatment criteria is met, and is priced at a maximum dose of $31 per prescription.”
No prohibited substances were detected in samples taken from Mr Orr’s dogs between 2022 and 2023.
Greyhound Racing Victoria runs the industry and polices it, a practice that has long attracted scrutiny from animal welfare groups.
Its chief executive, Stuart Laing, said the industry remained strong because of investigations like these.
“Integrity and animal welfare are non-negotiable priorities for GRV,” he said.