, trainer fined

Trainer David Wintle has been fined £7,200 at a Jockey Club hearing into charges related to his appearance on the BBC’s expose television programme, Kenyon Confronts.

The Cotswolds handler was fined £4,500 for bringing racing into disrepute, £2,200 for twice running his horse Seattle Alley in such a way as to prevent him from obtaining the best possible placing.

Wintle was also fined £500 for acting in a violent and improper manner, following a tussle with television presenter Paul Kenyon at Stratford.

Fellow trainers Ferdie Murphy and Jamie Osborne were each fined £4,000 for bringing racing into disrepute following their involvement in the same programme. All three trainers had made unguarded remarks on the air to reporters posing as prospective owners.

Jockey Club PR director John Maxse explained the discrepancy in the fines.

“The disciplinary panel was more likely to look favourably on Jamie Osborne and Ferdie Murphy as they openly admitted a breach of the rule in question,” he said. “Mr Wintle did not admit to a breach of any of the rules.”

Paul Woolwich, executive producer of Kenyon Confronts, described the punishments imposed on the trainers as “pathetic”.