Interesting Panorama from 2002:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIgG3SnfwQo
The picture painted is of a sport full of corruption, and of a Jockey Club that wasn't very robust in tackling it.
Would people who knew the sport well at the time say that's a fair depiction, and if so has it changed since?
Jeff
Corruption in racing
I think people's negative attitudes towards the integrity of racing, has been helped by adverse publicity of other sporting markets, especially football and tennis
I thought we'd see an explosion of dodgy owners/trainers once the recession started. Paying the bills is so much easier when you back your horse to lose. It hasn't happened though.....unless it's an indication that the authorities in racing are still not keen on investigating corruption within the sport
I thought we'd see an explosion of dodgy owners/trainers once the recession started. Paying the bills is so much easier when you back your horse to lose. It hasn't happened though.....unless it's an indication that the authorities in racing are still not keen on investigating corruption within the sport
Not sure what that Panorama prog revealed; that trainers gamble?, that they have relationships with bookmakers? You'd have to live on another planet to think otherwise if you knew anything about horseracing. A % of trainers depend on betting for their very survival, that fact has never changed & likely never will. Is the game more corrupt now than years ago?, I doubt it personally.
Have just read Vincent O'Brien's autobiography (great read). In it there a page from his 1954 betting book, underneath that page he claims that; "he ran seperate accounts for staff and for owners and friends"....I'd imagine the bookies welcomed the information they were recieving from him.
Have just read Vincent O'Brien's autobiography (great read). In it there a page from his 1954 betting book, underneath that page he claims that; "he ran seperate accounts for staff and for owners and friends"....I'd imagine the bookies welcomed the information they were recieving from him.
Not just that - although it is legal (even though it would be called insider trading in the financial world).Kalumpus wrote:Not sure what that Panorama prog revealed; that trainers gamble?, that they have relationships with bookmakers?
It also talked about jockeys allegedly throwing races in exchange for hefty payments from organised crime bosses.
Ex-jockey George Duffield's views on corruption are interesting (from http://www.express.co.uk/sport/horserac ... -corrupted):
“If someone comes along and says make sure this doesn’t win and here’s three or four grand, while the percentage for winning that race is just three or 400 quid, the temptation is unbelievable.
“It is inevitable there will always be someone who will want a quick buck and think they won’t get me because I’ll be a bit cleverer. If you are halfway inclined then you will do it.”
When he was in his prime things were different. “When you were manipulating the system in the olds days it was because you were trying to get one handicapped to get a rating of 45 instead of 65 of 75 – you weren’t robbing anyone, just trying to get a horse to win three races instead of one,” he said.
Jeff