In a VIP suite, as the sun set on a day at the racetrack, it was a random tip-off to police that brought public shame to former champion swimmer Geoff Huegill, and again brought to the fore Sydney's relationship with its most notorious party drug.

There were 12,000 people at Randwick Racecourse last Saturday. Police charged 19 people with being too drunk and just two for taking drugs – Huegill and his publicist wife Sara

Arrested: Geoff and Sara Huegill have been charged with possession of cocaine. Credit:Ken Butti

''They pulled him out of the suite and asked him why he was about to leave. He looked nervous and refused to be searched and kept asking for a lawyer,'' a racetrack employee said of the 5.40pm bust, which occurred as most were heading home.

The irony was not lost on the post-Logies crowd gathered around the luggage carousel on Monday afternoon at Sydney Airport as news flashed on the television monitors the glamour couple had been charged with cocaine possession.