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Richie McGrath and Kate Walton face corruption charges over 57 races Richie McGrath and Kate Walton face corruption charges over 57 races
(about 3 hours later)
Scottish Grand National-winning jockey Richie McGrath, together with former trainer Kate Walton, has been charged with passing on inside information. Richie McGrath, who won the 2003 Scottish Grand National on Ryalux, will face a British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel along with former trainer Kate Walton in November to answer charges of passing on inside information. The panel will also consider whether McGrath, a board member of the Professional Jockeys’ Association, was prepared to ride horses to lose if necessary in order to profit from bets placed against his mounts on betting exchanges.
McGrath, who won the Ayr showpiece on Ryalux in 2003, and Walton will face a British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel hearing provisionally scheduled for November 11. McGrath, Walton and five other individuals have been charged following a BHA investigation into a total of 57 races between October 2009 and April 2012. Carl Flint, Kristian Robson, David Stevens, David Greenwood and Mark Aspey, who is alleged to be instigator of the conspiracy to corrupt racing, are also due to attend the disciplinary panel hearing, which is provisionally scheduled for 11 November and is expected to last for seven working days.
It is alleged the pair conspired with registered persons Mark Aspey, Carl Flint, Kristian Robson, David Stevens and David Greenwood and/or others unknown to use inside information about the likely performance of horses for betting purposes. In addition to his victory on Ryalux at Ayr, McGrath’s big-race victories include the Grade Two Mildmay Novice Chase at Aintree on Sue Smith’s Simply Supreme and the Red Square Vodka Gold Cup Chase at Haydock, one of the season’s most valuable handicap chases, on Ossmoses in 2006. He has not ridden in public during the current National Hunt season, while Walton, who won the Grade Two John Smith’s Bumper at the Aintree Festival in 2009 with the McGrath-ridden Sitting Tenant, saddled her final runners in 2012 from Sharp Hill Farm in Middleham. She is now an assistant to Philip Kirby, who now holds the licence at the yard.
It is also alleged McGrath was prepared, if necessary, to omit to ride the horse on its merits so as to prevent it from winning or being placed in the race. In a statement released via the Professional Jockeys’ Association on Wednesday, McGrath’s solicitor Andrew Chalk said that the jockey “is shocked and bitterly disappointed to be facing charges, but vigorously maintains his innocence and intends to fight to clear his name, however financially straining that may be.”
Aspey, Flint, Robson, Stevens and/or Greenwood are alleged, in the period between about January 1, 2011 and May 13, 2011, to have acted in breach of the rules by placing lay bets on Rumble Of Thunder when they knew they - or were reckless as to whether they - were prohibited from doing so as Listed Persons. The statement continued: “However, this case yet again highlights the vast imbalance in resources between the prosecuting authority and those who have to defend themselves, often with their livelihood at stake. A fair hearing demands a level playing field, but these cases are rarely played out on such a surface.
The BHA said a total of 57 races are potentially involved in the investigation, from October 2009 until April 2012. “Additionally, Richie has informed the Professional Jockeys’ Association that while he fights to clear his name, he will temporarily stand down as a board member of the PJA.”
McGrath’s solicitor Andrew Chalk said the rider, who is a board member at the Professional Jockeys Association, was “shocked” at the charges and “vigorously maintains his innocence”. Paul Struthers, the PJA’s chief executive, said on Wednesday that the Association “respects Richie’s decision”, adding: “In the meantime, it is the PJA’s role to support Richie where we are able and we will offer every assistance we can to him.”
Speaking on behalf of McGrath, who has not ridden this season, Chalk, partner at Withy King, said in a statement: “Richie is shocked and bitterly disappointed to be facing charges, but vigorously maintains his innocence and intends to fight to clear his name, however financially straining that may be. The races at the centre of the BHA’s investigation include the Grade Two Old Roan Chase at Aintree in October 2009, in which McGrath rode Tom Taaffe’s Finger Onthe Pulse, a 10-1 chance, to finish seventh of the eight runners. In all, 22 of the horses concerned were trained by Walton, while eight were trained by Jonjo O’Neill and five by Tim Easterby.
“However, this case yet again highlights the vast imbalance in resources between the prosecuting authority and those who have to defend themselves, often with their livelihood at stake. A fair hearing demands a level playing field, but these cases are rarely played out on such a surface. The odds of McGrath’s mounts in the 57 races listed by the BHA range from 100-1 to 6-4. There are also two successful rides on Walton’s Rumble Of Thunder, at 7-4 and 6-4, as well as a defeat on the same horse at 7-2.
“Additionally, Richie has informed the Professional Jockeys Association that, whilst he fights to clear his name, he will temporarily stand down as a board member of the PJA.” Rory Mac Neice, Walton’s solicitor, also criticised the BHA’s approach to the case on Wednesday.
Paul Struthers, chief executive of the PJA, said: “We respect Richie’s decision to temporarily stand down from being on our board. In the meantime, it is the PJA’s role to support Richie where we are able and we will offer every assistance we can to him.” “The BHA has publicised the fact of charges without first providing Kate with sight of any of the evidence on which it is based,” Mac Neice said. “There’s no good reason for that and puts Kate at a significant disadvantage. Kate was interviewed two years ago and there is no good reason why the BHA should have taken the step of announcing charges whilst making the decision not to allow Kate sight of the evidence.
Walton had her last runners in the 2012-13 jumps season.
Walton is being represented by solicitor Rory Mac Neice, who echoed Chalk’s feelings on financial disadvantage and also said his client has yet to see any information relating to the charges.
He said: “The BHA has publicised the fact of charges without first providing Kate with sight of any of the evidence on which it is based.
“There’s no good reason for that and puts Kate at a significant disadvantage. Kate was interviewed two years ago and there is no good reason why the BHA should have taken the step of announcing charges whilst making the decision not to allow Kate sight of the evidence.
“We understand the evidence is not going to be produced by the BHA until, at the earliest, September 22. The BHA has the evidence but has decided not to give it to Kate until a time convenient to them and has not explained why.”“We understand the evidence is not going to be produced by the BHA until, at the earliest, September 22. The BHA has the evidence but has decided not to give it to Kate until a time convenient to them and has not explained why.”
Street Cry, the 2002 Dubai World Cup winner and one of the leading stallions in Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stud breeding operation, has been put down at the age of 16.
Street Cry’s progeny included the brilliant Californian racemare Zenyatta and the Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, while he also sired Shocking, the 2009 Melbourne Cup winner.
Your Busy, who took the Killarney National in May, followed up in the Kerry National at Listowel on Wednesday after squeezing into the race as first reserve.
Ridden by Katie Walsh, Your Busy started at 25-1 and beat Pass The Hat by half a length.
“I was headed for a stride or two turning in but he winged the second-last and winged the last,” Walsh, the first female jockey to win the Kerry National, said. “He was pulling out for me the whole time.
“He loves it in front. He completely missed the first and it was some performance after that to do what he did in a competitive race like the Kerry National. He was just really on-song today.”