Tipster linked to race-fix probe

Robert Winston is back home in York nursing a bout of tonsilitis and his new baby daughter after becoming the fifth jockey to be arrested in the City of London police probe into alleged race-fixing.

The 25-year-old Irishman is determined to clear his name but, as one new name entered the inquiry, one disgraced old face seemed to be looming ever larger in a probe which has the potential to do untold damage to the image of the sport.

Former Platinum Racing chief Miles Rodgers, who was banned from the sport for two years by the Jockey Club after being found guilty of laying his own horses to lose on betting exchanges last year, was today described as "one of the key figures in the entire episode" by a leading betting industry insider. Winston was aboard one of the horses involved in the Rodgers case, namely the big market drifter, Uhoomagoo, at Redcar in October 2003, and a police spokesman revealed that both he and Rodgers remain part of an investigation which has now seen 26 people arrested.

"The other people arrested are due to report back throughout April but, due to logistical reasons, the individual arrested yesterday will not appear until early May," he said. Jockeys' association John Blake described Winston as "upset and distressed" by his arrest but stressed that he "is confident he will clear his name and will carry on as normal."

Despite being banned from setting foot on every racecourse in Britain, Rodgers continues to offer highrolling punters the chance to share in his "vast array of contacts" via an internet tipping and laying service which costs punters almost £4,000 per year to join.

Rodgers, who described his two-year ban as "a travesty," argues on his website that "cheating happens every day of the week" and that "over the last three years I have paid out in excess of £500,000 to contacts."