High-profile racehorse owner Damion Flower has been refused bail after a magistrate said the strong drug smuggling case against him appeared to show he’d made “supervision actions”.

Flower, whose stakes in a suite of racehorses includes Australia’s champion stallion Snitzel, is accused of helping to smuggle more than 55 kilograms of cocaine in black duffel bags through Sydney Airport.

Magistrate Robert Williams on Thursday noted Flower’s family had offered property worth more than $3 million as bail surety but said he had some difficulty in balancing that against the strength of the prosecution case, the seriousness of the charges and the large quantity of drugs recovered.

Flower, wearing prison greens and appearing via video link at Sydney’s Central Local Court, said “Thank you, your honour” as his former wife, Camilla, was comforted in the public gallery.

Credit: AAP