Horse Racing ‘Betting Conspiracy’ Hearing Sees Accused UK Jockey a No-Show
Posted on: December 16, 2022, 02:55h.
Last updated on: December 16, 2022, 04:14h.
A former jockey at the heart of an alleged betting conspiracy that’s rocked British horse racing skipped an independent corruption inquiry investigating the allegations this week.
Danny Brock declined to take part in the British Horseracing Authority’s (BHA) public hearing into his alleged wrongdoing. He claimed that appearing could lead to threats against him and his family. Brock asked for a private hearing behind closed doors, a request denied by the panel.
The jockey is accused of “stopping rides,” or not riding horses to achieve their best possible placings, in nine races between December 2018 and September 2019. The BHA also accuses him of relaying insider information to five gamblers who were able to profit from betting on allegedly fraudulent races.
Brock hasn’t ridden since receiving a 30-day ban for a series of whip offenses in July last year and is not currently licensed to ride.
‘Extraordinary Betting’
On Wednesday, Louis Weston, a lawyer for the BHA, told the hearing of “extraordinary betting” patterns that suggested the existence of a “horseracing conspiracy.”
“Mr Brock told bettors that he was going to ride a horse normally or ride a horse well and they backed him,” Weston said, as reported by The Sun. “He then told them when he was going to stop a horse and when he did that, they either laid the horse or they bet on his opponent in a match race,”
So the conspiracy we allege against all of the persons charged before the inquiry is that they engaged or joined in a conspiracy to commit a fraudulent or corrupt practice against the rules of racing.”
Also named as conspirators are Luke Olley, Luke Howells, Eugene Maloney, Andrew Perring, and Sean McBride, all of whom are alleged to have bet on the crooked races.
The only one of these present at the hearing this week was McBride, the son of racehorse trainer Charlie McBride. He denies the allegations.
Throwing the Race?
The panel heard that in one of the suspicious races — at Southwell in March 2019 — Brock, riding Samovar, was noticeably – deliberately, according to Weston – slow out of the stalls. The rider then failed to correct his mount when it veered to the left.
Samovar finished second in the race at 2/1, 10 lengths behind Tricky Dicky, a horse backed by Perring, Maloney, Howells, and McBride.
McBride told the hearing that he and the others were prolific gamblers who were accustomed to betting large sums on individual races.
Of Brock’s absence, Weston said: “I would invite you to draw some adverse inferences in relation to Mr. Brock. “He has had every opportunity to contest what I say about his rides and he is choosing not to.
“I would invite you … to draw the inference he has no good reason and is using the excuse of publicity as a shield to avoid questioning.”
The hearing continues.
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