“He had people over at his property and he was saying, ‘I’ve got people here from overseas’, and he was asking them if they wanted to a buy a share in a guaranteed champion.
“You could hear everyone in the background asking, ‘did she sell it to you?’
He actually said he would give me a share in his next Melbourne Cup winner
Kristy Sultana
“I had about five others jump on the phone trying to talk me into it. It was funny. He actually said he would give me a share in his next Melbourne Cup winner.”
Who knows whether Singleton will have a Melbourne Cup winner, but what he failed to mention to Sultana was he has a horse good enough to run in the $15 million The Everest, which will be run at Randwick on Saturday. Singleton co-owns mare Libertini with good mate Gerry Harvey.
But before The Everest, part-time trainer Sultana will have a life-changing moment when Flying Ricciardo, named after Australia’s Formula One ace Daniel Ricciardo, lines up in the Million Dollar Chase at Wentworth Park on Friday night.
Flying Ricciardo’s trainer Kristy Sultana with her father Sam.Credit:Ross Schultz
Sultana is not sure if Singleton will be watching the world’s richest greyhound race, nor Ricciardo, who last month joked he would have to start seeking counsel from his namesake in a bid to find the podium more regularly.
Flying Ricciardo, named because of the F1 obsession of Sultana’s husband, has won 14 races from just 16 starts and been placed in his other two.
Asked about the prospect of starting as one of the favourites in a $1 million-to-the-winner final, Sultana said: “It’s just so surreal.
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“Normally you would be cheering for a $100,000 [first prize], but now it’s chicken feed compared to winning $1 million. Whatever happens [on Friday night] happens.
“I’ve spent a long time in this game trying to get a dog like this, he was never going to be for sale. As long he gets around safely, that’s the main thing.”
Tommy Shelby (box eight) was a narrow $2.80 favourite with Sportsbet on Thursday, just ahead of Flying Ricciardo (three) at $2.90 and box one runner Shadow Mist ($3).
The final will be shown live on Nine after the Storm-Raiders NRL preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium.
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Adam Pengilly is a Sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.
A 32-year-old Sydney man has been charged for allegedly sending emails to voters in the Eden-Monaro by-election trying to discredit Labor’s candidate in the poll.
Key points:
Police have charged a Sydney man for sending emails, which said Labor’s candidate had quit the by-election race
The AFP were asked to investigate the messages last month
The man has been released on bail and will appear in court in September
The emails appeared to be from the Catholic Church and linked Ms McBain to, among other things, the coronavirus pandemic.
“The AFP commenced the investigation following a report from the Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce and the Australian Electoral Commission on 10 June, 2020,” it said in a statement.
“The report related to spam emails, which appeared to be from legitimate sources, being sent from an unidentified user to the Australian community and various organisations.
The spam was described by the AFP as “disinformation”, with voters being urged to vote for Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs instead.
AFP officers searched the Sydney man’s home over the alleged spam emails.(Supplied: Australian Federal Police)
The man from Blacktown, in Sydney’s western suburbs, has had one charge brought against him, although the AFP are still investigating other suspicious emails.
The 32-year-old has been released on bail, and will appear in court in September.
In recent days, voters received emails suggesting Ms McBain was pulling out of the by-election because she had tested positive for coronavirus.
The Labor Party denounced the emails, as did Liberal candidate Ms Kotvojs.
“It’s offensive and inappropriate. There’s no place for this sort of thing in our politics or our society,” Ms Kotvojs said at the time.
The AFP said the investigation was ongoing.
In a statement, the Australian Electoral Commission said it took the matter “very seriously” and was continuing to provide evidence to support the investigation.
Labor’s Kristy McBain has officially claimed victory in the Eden-Monaro by-election, saying her party has clinched the marginal seat after preference flows secured her lead.
Key points:
A Labor spokesman characterised Eden-Monaro as an “ugly win” for the party
Ms McBain said her opponent was yet to contact her to concede defeat
Several polling booths saw major swings for-and-against the major parties
About 80 per cent of the votes in the by-election have been counted, slowed by more than 44,000 pre-poll and postal votes.
A Liberal Party spokesperson told the ABC that Ms Kotvojs was not ready to call the election and noted there were many postal votes still arriving to be counted.
This afternoon, Ms McBain said her lead of more than 1,000 votes over opponent Fiona Kotvojs meant the Liberal Party would need a 63 per cent vote on a two-party preferred basis to win.
The count at the time showed Ms Kotvojs still ahead on first preferences, but falling just short on a two-party preferred basis at 49.1 per cent.
She said Ms Kotvojs had not contacted her to concede defeat.
“On all metrics, it looks like the Labor Party will secure the seat again,” Ms McBain said.
Kristy McBain says she wants to “hit the ground running” on recovery efforts in the region.(ABC News: Chris Sheedy)
The former Bega mayor thanked her opponent for running and pledged to avoid hyper-partisanship and work with leaders across the community.
The election, Ms McBain said, was fought on local issues including bushfire relief, the economic impacts of COVID-19 and drought.
“I know there is a lot of work to do right across this electorate,” she said.
“It’s a great privilege, one that I’m very chuffed that voters got behind me on.”
Last night, neither candidate were willing to claim a win or concede defeat.
Fiona Kotvojs got a rockstar welcome at the Liberal Party’s official function in Queanbeyan.(AAP: Mick Tsikas)
The party’s primary vote fell by more than 2 per cent on current counts, compared to the 2019 Federal Election.
“It is a bit of an ugly win for us, I concede, but it is a win just the same,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“We do need to lift our primary vote.
“We’ll have [Ms McBain] again next time and she’ll have the opportunity now to consolidate herself in that electorate, and I have no doubt she’ll lift that primary vote next time around.”
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese made several appearances in Eden-Monaro during the campaign.(AAP: Lukas Coch)
The by-election also put Anthony Albanese’s impact as federal Labor leader into the spotlight.
It was his first electoral test since taking over as Opposition Leader after last year’s federal election, where Labor’s primary vote dropped to about 36 per cent.
“In Kristy McBain, we had an extraordinary advocate for the people of Eden-Monaro,” he said.
“For all those people who voted for Kristy McBain, she will make them proud. For those who didn’t, when they see her in operation, they will think about and consider giving her a vote at the general election.”
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Labor’s Kristina Keneally clashes with Environment Minister Sussan Ley on air
He dismissed concerns his party’s primary vote had gone backwards in the electorate since the 2019 Federal Election.
“There were 14 candidates in this election, when you have more candidates you have a drop,” he said.
“I presume the people who vote for [the HEMP Party] didn’t think it would win the election but wanted to send a message on those issues and indicated a preference after that.”
The pandemic saw massive postal and pre-poll votes casted in Eden-Monaro.(ABC News: Matt Roberts)
By-election saw large swings
Ms McBain enjoyed a swing towards her in booths on the South Coast, an area that was badly affected by bushfires last summer.
One exception, however, was the polling booth in the fire-ravaged town of Cobargo which was narrowly won by Labor, but with a 6.75 per cent swing towards the Liberal overall.
The New Year’s Eve bushfire ravaged the small town and resulted in the death of a local father and son who died protecting their farm.
Stevie Smith’s family lost almost everything when fires ripped through Cobargo.(ABC News: Kathleen Calderwood.)
Resident Stevie Smith, whose parents lost everything in nearby Wondella, said Ms McBain’s win was “fantastic” and that she had done “an amazing job” with recovery efforts in Bega.
The by-election had also put the national spotlight onto the plight of the NSW South Coast communities still rebuilding after the Black Summer.
“When COVID hit that was one of the first things I said to Mum and Dad is … ‘I think it could easily take away from the fact that up and down the east people are suffering’,” Ms Smith said.
“It’s nice that this has brought the focus back, six months down the track there’s still a long way to go.”
Ms McBain’s tenure as the Bega mayor has impressed Cobargo local Mahesha Philpot.(ABC News: Kathleen Calderwood)
Another local, Mahesha Philpot, was also pleased Ms McBain had won but said time would tell how much the community would benefit from a Labor victory.
“She’s been really good at the mayoral thing in Bega [so] she’ll be good for the rest of us,” he said.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is investigating a “disinformation” campaign about the Labor candidate for Eden Monaro, which falsely claimed she had quit the by-election race.
Key points:
The email claimed Kristy McBain had withdrawn from the race after contracting COVID-19
It also said she asked her supporters to redirect their vote to Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs
The Australian Federal Police confirmed it is investigating and described the emails as “spam”
Labor sources said the party became aware of an email on Wednesday morning which claimed its candidate Kristy McBain had COVID-19 and, as a result, had withdrawn from July 4 by-election.
The email claimed Ms McBain asked her supporters to redirect their support to Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs instead.
The Australian Federal Police confirmed it was investigating the matter and described the emails as “spam”.
“The Australian Federal Police has commenced an investigation after receiving a report from the Electoral Integrity Network,” a spokeswoman said.
Australian Labor Party national secretary Paul Erickson said the emails were malicious and incorrect.
“The spread of disinformation online is a threat to democracy,” he said.
“We hope [the AFP] identify the culprit,” he said.
Liberal candidate Fiona Kotvojs described the email as “offensive”.(ABC News)
Dr Kotvojs, the Liberal candidate for Eden Monaro, condemned the emails and welcomed the referral to the AFP.
“It’s offensive and inappropriate. There’s no place for this sort of thing in our politics or our society,” she said.
The seat hit national attention after infighting between state Liberal cabinet colleagues Andrew Constance and John Barilaro, and both pulled out of the race for the federal seat.
Mr Constance, the NSW Transport Minister, abandoned his bid less than 24 hours after preselection after a newspaper quoted Mr Barilaro, the Deputy Premier, using vulgar language to describe him to colleagues.
