Top jockey Danny Nikolic has offered to take a lie-detector test to prove he had no contact with warned-off punter Neville Clements prior to the defeat of odds-on favourite Baby Boom at the Sunshine Coast in January.

Nikolic’s offer came towards the end of more than two hours of cross-examination from Paul Holdenson QC who was representing RVL stewards at the RAD Board hearing into four charges laid against the Caulfield Cup-winning jockey, accusing him of acting improperly in his relationships with Clements, as well as punters Alessandro Alaimo and Kevin McFarland.

Holdenson focussed on Nikolic’s confirmed conversations with Clements prior to nine beaten rides between January 2009 and February 2010, Nikolic said he used Clements as one of his form analysts to guide him in assessing races.

“Nifty (Clements) is not the only person I talk to before a race,” Nikolic told the RAD Board. “I also talk to (form analyst) Mark Hunter as well as Neville about things like tempo, where horses are likely to settle and where the smart money is going.”

Nikolic denied giving Clements information about the chances of his mounts because “he (Clements) doesn’t want to know about what jockeys or trainers think”.

The 38-time Group I-winning jockey said he had no control over the betting activities of Clements, nor did he know the former bookmaker laid horses to lose on Betfair, an assertion Holdenson challenged at various stages of Nikolic’s testimony.

Holdenson moved Nikolic’s grilling to the Baby Boom affair, centring on the activities of Clements, Alaimo and McFarland prior to the January 3 race, which resulted in Baby Boom’s defeat as a $1.80 favourite.

Alaimo and McFarland laid the four-year-old heavily on Betfair while Clements risked $56,000 in laying Baby Boom to lose the Sunshine Coast maiden; more than twice the highest amount Clements stood to lose on any of Nikolic’s losing rides in Victoria.

Nikolic angrily denied providing Clements with any information prior to the Baby Boom race, stating he only found out about Clements’ risk after he “rang around to find out what was going on” when stewards began an inquiry into the running of the $10,000 event.

“I’d love to take a choreograph (sic) test,” Nikolic said. “I never spoke to Clements about Baby Boom. It is 100 percent wrong to say I did.

“There is no chance in the world I told Clements anything (about Baby Boom). He only told me he risked more than he anticipated some time after he laid the horse.”

Holdenson will continue to grill Nikolic from 2pm on Wednesday, before the RAD Board hears both sides’ closing submissions.

The RAD Board will deliberate over the case on Thursday and hand down a penalty on Tuesday at 10.30 am.

racenet news