Officials to pull plug on inquiry telecast

Racing NSW has denied requests to televise the high-profile More Joyous stewards' inquiry. Source: AAP

REQUESTS to televise the high-profile More Joyous stewards' inquiry have been denied, with racing officials keen to hold the hearing in the same manner as any other.

Racing NSW received applications from television networks to attend Monday's inquiry featuring John Singleton, his former trainer Gai Waterhouse and her bookmaker son Tom as the main players.

The ruling body's chief executive Peter V'landys said it was not in the best interests of anyone concerned to make an exception.

"We don't believe that it would provide the necessary forum for the people involved getting procedural fairness, natural justice and due process," V'landys said.

"We don't want any distractions. It's a very high-profile and serious case and we want to make sure all parties are given every opportunity to present their cases.

"It is a normal stewards' inquiry and it's not appropriate for it to be filmed.

"We had a number of TV stations wanting to do live coverage but it is a serious inquiry and we want to concentrate on that."

Stewards opened an inquiry into the poor performance of the Singleton-owned and Waterhouse-trained More Joyous after she finished second last in Saturday's All Aged Stakes at Randwick.

Waterhouse said the mare had received an antibiotic on Thursday morning but she did not believe it was an issue she needed to tell stewards about.

The inquiry escalated after stewards became aware of public comments by Singleton who announced after the race he had sacked Waterhouse as his trainer because her son had told people More Joyous had a problem and could not win.

Former jockey Allan Robinson has revealed himself as the person who told Singleton, saying he heard it from ex-footballer Andrew Johns.

Robinson and Johns have been asked for statements which will be tendered to the inquiry but V'landys said it would be up to the stewards whether the pair would be asked to appear in person.

Tom Waterhouse has denied saying More Joyous could not win. He said his pay-out on the winner All Too Hard was a "strip-out" and a win by More Joyous, who he backed, was a $300,000 better result for him.

V'landys said stewards were scrutinising betting records on the race from all wagering operators.

He refused to speculate on what, if any, charges might result from the inquiry.

"The stewards will determine what rules if any have been breached," he said.

"No-one has been charged. It is an inquiry and stewards will determine what action, if any, to take after that."

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Ioane off to Stade Francais: report

Au revoir ... Ioane has reportedly decided to join Stade Francais. Source: AAP

Queensland Reds winger Digby Ioane has reportedly signed a two-year deal with Stade Francais, a French radio station claims.

RMC radio claims Ioane will join the Parisian giants after falling out with the Reds administration over an unpaid third-party deal.

Reds boss Jim Carmichael has repeatedly denied Ioane is owed money, and said the winger's off-field behaviour is the source of the problem.

The addition of Ioane would be a huge coup for the struggling Stade, who sit ninth on the Top 14 ladder.

Ioane recently tweeted a picture of himself and Waratahs winger Drew Mitchell with the caption "french wingers".

More to follow …

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Bold bid to takeover Heart

Huge offer ... Melbourne Heart coach John Aloisi with CEO Scott Munn. Source: George Salpigtidis / News Limited

South Melbourne FC has confirmed an offer of more than $3.5 million to buy Melbourne Heart A-League club, and raised the prospect of Brazilian ex-international Emerson as coach.

South Melbourne responded via its Facebook account to reports that they had approached Heart with the offer, only to be rejected.

The statement read in full: "Following yesterday's (Wednesday) media reports … and statements made by the CEO of the Melbourne Heart (Scott Munn) South Melbourne FC wishes to confirm the following:

• South Melbourne FC that it made an offer to acquire 100% of the Melbourne Heart Licence.
• The offer was in excess of 3.5 million
• The offer was made after several discussions between Heart & SMFC Directors.
• South Melbourne FC has received an expression of interest from Emerson (Brazilian Legend) to coach and has already secured Major Sponsors for its A-League ambitions."

Munn said on Wednesday that Heart's owners had no intention of selling.

South Melbourne, which currently competes in the Victorian Premier League – and was also in recent discussions with cash-strapped Central Coast Mariners – reportedly offered a combination of cash and shares and included relocation to Lakeside Stadium, a facility it currently shares with Athletics Victoria.

Munn confirmed the offer and revealed that two offers from overseas investors had also been received in recent months but the club's owners weren't interested in selling a controlling stake.

While Heart's crowds have stagnated, the club will turn a small profit this season and Munn said this made the model enticing to potential investors.

"We've made it very clear we have no interest in taking their offer any further," Munn said.

"We've been approached this year a couple of times, from the Middle East and a European consortium.

"Those conversations were quite open and transparent but we made it very clear that there were some non-negotiables and one of them is that the founding owners always want to retain control.

"We'd love to invest more in areas such as marketing, advertising and most importantly the footy department.

"We can sustain a club, we can post a small profit and that puts us in an enviable position for investors, knowing they won't have to reach into their pocket each year."

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Wanderers re-sign Haliti, Trifiro

Contract ... Labinot Haliti re-signs with the Western Sydney Wanderers. Source: Dean Lewins / AAP

Western Sydney Wanderers have re-signed Labinot Haliti and Jason Trifiro for the 2013-14 A-League season.

Haliti and Trifiro were both members of the Wanderers team defeated by Central Coast Mariners in the grand final last month after securing the Premier's Plate three weeks previously.

Striker Haliti and midfielder Trifiro both said they were keen to build on the stunning success of the Wanderers' debut season.

"I'm very happy to be staying and playing for the best fans in the country,'' Haliti said in a statement.

"This year has been an exciting one and I'm grateful to the coaching staff who believe in me and under them I can only improve.''

Haliti came on as a second-half substitute in the grand final, while Trifiro wasn't called upon by coach Tony Popovic.

Haliti played 19 games for the Wanderers last season and scored five goals. Trifiro played 15 games.

Wanderers executive chairman Lyall Gorman welcomed the retention of both players.

"Labinot and Jason played an integral part in this journey and contributed to our success in winning the Premier's Plate and making grand final,'' Gorman said.

"We look forward to another successful season from both players.''

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Lowndes dodges Perth traffic in style

IT'S one way of beating Perth's increasingly notorious congestion.

V8 supercar superstar Craig Lowndes, along with local Olympic javelin star Kim Mickle, have hopped into a Red Bull Racing car and blasted through the CBD ahead of this weekend's championship round.

Perth drivers are increasingly faced with growing queues of traffic as the roadworks transforming the WA capital continue to pile-up.

But Lowndes had no such worries, with two police outriders carving him a route down St George's Terrace on Wednesday, leaving pedestrians, shoppers and fellow motorists wide-eyed at the pace and power of his 888 car.

In a move even more likely to leave Perth motorists agog, Lowndes was then due to hand out free fuel for 30 minutes at a nearby petrol station.

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Johns spoke to me about More Joyous: Singo

JOHN Singleton says rugby league legend Andrew Johns was one of the two men who contacted him over the condition of his horse More Joyous that led to his spectacular falling out with his trainer Gai Waterhouse.

Singleton has accused Waterhouse's son, the bookmaker Tom Waterhouse, of telling people the champion mare could not win the All Aged Stakes at Randwick last Saturday.

Johns released a statement on Tuesday dismissing claims that Tom Waterhouse had tipped him off about the condition of More Joyous.

Retired jockey Allan Robinson said he spoke to Singleton but said it was not Johns who had told him (Robinson) about More Joyous' condition.

At a trackside inquiry on Saturday, Singleton refused to divulge the names of "trusted friends" who had told him Tom Waterhouse was saying there was a problem with More Joyous.

But on Wednesday night, he broke his silence.

"Names have already been named so my reluctance to name names has been taken away by the names naming themselves," he told the Nine Network.

Asked if Johns and Robinson were those people, Singleton replied, "Yeah, they're both the people who rang me, yes."

Tom Waterhouse has denied the accusations and will front the reconvened stewards' inquiry next Monday.

It was revealed during Saturday's preliminary inquiry that More Joyous had been treated with antibiotics leading up to the All Aged, but she had been cleared to run by two vets, including the one employed by Singleton.

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Norman slams golf's drug testing

Greg Norman ... has labelled golf's anti-drug measures as "disgraceful". Source: Jean-Christophe Bott / AFP

Greg Norman has described golf's anti-doping procedures as "disgraceful" and called for blood testing to be instituted by the sport's governing bodies.

"You only have to look at what happened to Vijay Singh just recently to know the drugs issue is there," Norman said.

Singh acknowledged in a magazine interview in January that he'd used deer antler spray, which contains a muscle-building hormone banned by the PGA Tour. It can be detected only by blood tests.

"How deep it is (the problem), I have no idea because we only do urine analysis instead of blood testing," Norman said. "If you really want to be serious about it and find about what's really going on, we need to do blood testing. I think it's disgraceful, to tell you the truth. The golf associations have to get together and step it up.

"It's a pin prick for a player and you find out what's going on. If you're the head of golf or any sport, if you're the commissioner for a sport, it's your responsibility to make sure your sport is clean ... that should be your No. 1 priority."

The Aussie golf great was back in his home country this weekend for his golf-course design work.

"Any sportsman or sportswoman who uses an outside agency to improve their skills is cheating," Norman said. "It sickens me. They're putting a black eye on their sport. If a sport gets itself clean, the corporate dollars will always be there because people will know it's a sport they can trust. The rest will take care of itself."

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Meet the new Mrs Air Jordan

Slam dunk ... Michael Jordan and his new bride, Yvette Prieto after getting married in Florida. Source: AAP

Retired NBA legend Michael Jordan married model Yvette Prieto at a ceremony in Florida on Saturday with a lavish reception at a luxury golf community, People magazine reported on Sunday.

Jordan, 50, led the Chicago Bulls to six NBA titles during his playing days and his name remains one of the top brands in sports marketing. He now owns the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.

Prieto, 35, met Jordan at a Miami club in 2008 and they have dated for five years. The couple became engaged in 2011 and applied for a marriage license last month at the county courthouse in Palm Beach, Florida.

People reported that about 500 people attended the wedding ceremony in an Episcopal church and another 1,500 joined the couple for a reception at the Bear's Club, a golf course community in nearby Jupiter.

ESPN.com reported Tiger Woods, Spike Lee and Patrick Ewing were among those to attend the NBA Hall of Famer's wedding.

Entertainment included DJ MC Lyte, singers K'Jon, Robin Thicke and Grammy Award winner Usher and The Source, an 18-piece band.

People reported that Jordan recently purchased a home in the Bear's Club development, named for the designer of the course, 18-time major champion Jack Nicklaus, whose nickname was the "Golden Bear".

It was the second marriage for Jordan, who divorced his first wife Juanita in 2006 after 17 years of marriage. They had three children together.

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Cowboys junior passes away

North Queensland Cowboys NRL squad member Alex Elisala died in Mackay late on Monday afternoon after his family made the heart-breaking decision to turn his life-support off.

Elisala, 20, was a very promising hooker who many tipped to crack the NRL this season.

He played for the Mackay Cutters in the Intrust Super Cup on Saturday and represented Samoa in a Test match earlier this month.

Alex played 69 games in the Toyota Cup under-20s competition - the second most by any Cowboy and also played for Queensland in the under 20's State of Origin game last year.

Cowboys' staff and players have begun receiving counselling to cope with the devastating news.

Numerous NRL players had taken to Twitter throughout the day to pass their prayers and wishes to the gifted talent.

"This is an extremely sad time for our club, particularly for our players who trained and played alongside Alex in both our NYC and NRL teams," Cowboys CEO Peter Jourdain said.

"Alex joined our club four years ago, had a distinguished career in our NYC squad and was already excelling in his first year as a full-time member of the NRL squad.

"He was undoubtedly one of the brightest young talents at the Cowboys.

"Alex was extremely well liked by everyone at the club and his jovial but dedicated presence in and away from football will be deeply missed by all.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Alex's family and his friends.

"Our players and staff have met this morning to support each other and with the help of the NRL, we have begun to provide professional counselling as they try to come to terms with Alex's passing.

"We request everyone to respect the sensitive nature of this situation and the privacy of all concerned."

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For help with emotional difficulties, contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or www.lifeline.org.au

For help with depression, contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36 or at www.beyondblue.org.au

The SANE Helpline is 1800 18 SANE (7263) or at www.sane.org

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Tex rocked by sickening knee injury

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Despondent ... Taylor Walker cuts a folorn figure after injuring his knee in the first quarter. Source: JOE CASTRO / AAP

Adelaide full-forward Taylor Walker was subbed out of the match against Carlton after suffering what appeared to be a serious injury to his left knee.

Walker had started the match at the MCG well, kicking the Crows' opening goal. But just minutes later he landed awkwardly in a marking contest and had to be assisted from the field by the Crows' medical staff.

6.3 (39)	Q1	1.5 (11)
9.5 (59)	Q2	3.6 (24)
13.8 (86)	Q3	6.9 (45)
17.13 (115)	Q4	12.11 (83)

Jefferey Garlett 4	Matthew Jaensch 3
Chris Yarran 3	Andy Otten 3
Brock McLean 2	Richard Douglas 1
Dennis Armfield 1	Sam Jacobs 1
Eddie Betts 1	Tom Lynch 1
Andrew Carrazzo 1	Jared Petrenko 1
Bryce Gibbs 1	Bernie Vince 1
Chris Judd 1	Taylor Walker 1
Marc Murphy 1
Heath Scotland 1
Kade Simpson 1

Within minutes Adelaide had activated their sub Rory Laird to replace Walker, who turned 23 on ANZAC Day.

FOX FOOTY's David King spoke to Adelaide medical staff who said Walker's injury appeared to be a "strain" as opposed to an ACL which is what had initially been feared.

He will be assessed after the match, but is almost certainly to be sidelined for several weeks.

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