Racehorse trainer and jockey found guilty of corruption

Racehorse trainer Paul Blockley and jockey Dean McKeown have been found guilty by the British Horse Racing Authority (BHA) of corruption in racing.

Both Mr Blockley and Mr McKeown have been found guilty of conspiring with other people to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice in horse racing.

Clive Whiting, Derek Lovatt, David Wright, Marcus Reeder, Nicholas Rook, Martyn Wakefield and Vincent Whiting have also been found guilty of corruption.

Mr Blockley, Mr McKeown and the others — three racehorse owners, two former racehorse owners and two unlicensed individuals — were all accused of laying horses to lose in 11 races between March 2004 and December 2005.

The main allegation was that all were involved in a conspiracy to exploit inside information about Blockley’s runners in the 11 races that were all successfully layed to lose on betting exchange site Betfair. The bets in question risked a total of £182,541, but in fact, because every bet was a winner, their overall profit was £61,909.

Racehorse trainer Paul Blockley was also found guilty of failing to give jockey Dean McKeown such instructions as were necessary to ensure that Hits Only Money ran to its full potential.

And Mr McKeown was found guilty of four counts of intentionally failing to ensure that Only If I Laugh, Smith N Allan Oils, Hits Only Cash and Hits Only Money ran on their merits.

The BHA’s disciplinary panel are currently considering penalites.

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