Racing Hit By Betting Allegations

Horse racing has been plunged into another betting scandal after a BBC documentary made allegations of evidence of race-fixing.

The BBC’s Panorama programme alleged that a man cleared of horse race fixing in 2007 had engaged in corrupt betting practices.

Phone calls between Miles Rodgers and jockey Fergal Lynch revealed evidence they conspired to affect the outcome of a horse race, the documentary alleged.

It was also claimed Rodgers had been unfairly profiting from ‘inside information’ through lay betting, where punters bet on which horses will lose.

In December 2007, Rodgers was one of six people, including former champion jockey Kieren Fallon, who were cleared of race-fixing in a trial at the Old Bailey.

The British Horseracing Authority responded immediately to the programme stating that it was reviewing the evidence.

Nic Coward, Chief Executive of the British Horseracing Authority, confirmed that the Authority has a number of investigations ongoing and that there are files with its legal advisers for consideration of disciplinary proceedings under the Rules of Racing.

Ben Gunn, the director of the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the official governing body of British horseracing, told Panorama ‘there is only one certainty in racing and that is that a horse can be made to lose but it can’t necessarily be made to win’.

Until recently, knowing which horse would lose was of little consequence, since that knowledge had no market value – betting was all about picking which animal would sweep to victory, not which would not. But, with the advent of internet gambling and online betting exchanges such as Betfair, such information is now valuable.

There has been concern that professional gamblers could try to acquire privileged information from owners, jockeys or trainers on a horse’s likely performance to give themselves an unfair advantage on these sorts of bets.

The BHA has told jockeys that if they regularly give information, which is not in the public domain, to contacts who then use it to lay bet on horses to lose, they risk being disciplined.

The governing body stated it will not need proof of financial gain to move against a jockey – that a pattern of contact with gamblers, even through a go-between, will be sufficient.