Racing still in dock as Fox faces 'fix' inquiry

13 April 2012

Sean Fox heads to Portman Square tomorrow as the latest defendant in racing's disciplinary crackdown.

But the journeyman jockey at the centre of the Ice Saint episode does so amid the fallout of a separate case which has raised major questions about the Jockey Club's ability to deliver on its promise to root out wrongdoers.

A dramatic climax to the Hillside Girl inquiry late last night left Lancashire trainer Alan Berry and his betting blacksmith Steve O'Sullivan free to continue their careers after the collapse of a case which alleged that they conspired to defraud punters by laying a horse who ran despite being lame.

Berry was fined £2,150 for failing to train with due regard for the safety of his horses, while O'Sullivan was fined £1,000 for hindering an investigation into how Hillside Girl came to be pulled up after being laid to lose large sums on betting exchanges at Carlisle last June.

However, the cost to racing's image is immeasurably higher at the end of a 15-month saga marked by a rash of damaging headlines and alleged intimidation of a crucial witness.

Berry's former head groom Helen Cooper claims she received phone calls advising her not to give evidence against her employer, while Berry's assistant Billy Keenan resigned 24 hours after the Hillside Girl race and refused to testify on grounds that he "knew all along the Jockey Club would make a real horlicks of it."

Jockey Club PR spokesman John Maxse denied that errors had been made in the handling of the case today and stressed that O'Sullivan and amateur rider Dale Jewett may well face further charges related to using privileged information to back horses to lose via the exchanges.

"This was a very complicated case involving a number of issues, and though it was clear that Hillside Girl had been laid to lose by some of those involved there was insufficient evidence to prove there had been a conspiracy," he said.

Fox is confident that he can overturn a 21-day ban imposed when Fontwell stewards ruled that he had stepped off Ice Saint deliberately in a novice chase which dominated national headlines in March, while champion jump jockey Tony McCoy will also be in London tomorrow to appeal a controversial 10-day ban for easing down prematurely and losing third in a race at Bangor last Friday.

Meanwhile, last night's Hillside Girl hearing ended in bizarre fashion, with Berry admitting he had been "a bit thick" in failing to recognise the implications of the case and quoting Forrest Gump to conclude "that's all I've got to say on the matter."

Mr Gump also had firm views on the subject of life in general in the 1994 movie starring Tom Hanks.

"My mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get," he said.

Cynics would suggest the same can be said of Jockey Club justice after last night's events.

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Racing still in dock as Fox faces 'fix' inquiry

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