A racehorse owner has been disqualified for 18 months for knowingly giving a Newcastle-trained horse an offensive name and subsequently giving false evidence to stewards.
Stuart Ruse, who appeared before Racing NSW stewards on Thursday, is the managing owner of a filly he called Andiamo Fica who is by Benfica out of Loose'n'lovely.
The filly, whose name has been changed to Andiamo Miss, finished last at her only start so far for Newcastle trainer Ben Smith, who has since been suspended on separate matters.
When translated from Italian to English, the name means Let's Go C..., which Ruse denied he knew.
Stewards disagreed and outed him after finding him guilty of two charges, one that he submitted the name knowing its meaning, and the second for giving false evidence regarding the name.
Ruse was handed two 12-month bans with six months of the second to be served concurrently with the first.
