Auctioneers Tattersalls Ireland have won a legal battle against Lambourn trainer Paul Blockley who failed to pay for horses he bought.
Mr Blockley, the leading all weather UK trainer of 2004 and 2005, bought 12 yearlings at Tattersalls’ September sale in Fairyhouse, Ireland, at a cost of €245,830 (£185, 408).
But although he has made five payments totalling €52,958.24, a sum of £139,060.89 remained outstanding, according to a High Court writ.
On 18 January, Tattersalls Ireland won a judgement against Mr Blockley for payment of £175,886, as well as interest of £35,735 and continuing interest of £68.58 a day.
Mr Blockley said: “I have settled some of it. The other will be settled very soon.”
Mr Blockley has had a chequered career in racing. He had a few race rides and held a training licence during the 1980s and 1990s, before it was withdrawn by the Jockey Club in 1995 when he could not be traced at his yard at Malton, Yorkshire.
He moved to Belgium, but was later disqualified from racing by the authorities there for a time. Bans in Belgium also apply to racing in the UK, and while buying and selling point-to-pointers he admitted to going racing while disqualified and was banned for a further year by the Jockey Club in 2002.
Just days after regaining his licence, Brockley’s first runner Red Power won the Brocklesby Stakes at Doncaster. Since then he has gone on to train a number of winners in both national hunt and on the flat.
Tattersalls Ireland declined to comment to H&H.
This news story was first published in Horse & Hound (28 February, ’08)
