Louis Weston acts for BHA in betting conspiracy case against jockey Danny Brock

Former horseracing jockey Danny Brock faces a lengthy ban after the British Horseracing Authority instructed sports law specialist Louis Weston in this complicated race fixing case.

The case

The British Horseracing Authority’s independent disciplinary panel decided the fate of former jockey Danny Brock on Tuesday 17 January, issuing a ban after deciding he had deliberately stopped horses in three races. Louis Weston, aided by Tomás Nolan, a senior regulatory lawyer at BHA, argued that Brock was responsible for ‘fixing’ three races in 2018 and 2019 along with five other individuals including Sean McBride.

There were a series of large bets staked and Louis relied on detailed analysis of videos and betting patterns after a widespread refusal by the respondents to cooperate. The panel concluded there were differences in the way Brock rode the horse which aligned with that betting. Louis also asked the panel to consider a number of other races in which Brock was riding, to corroborate betting patterns of the individuals alleged to be profiting from Brock’s activities. 

The case against a sixth individual was ultimately dropped although he remains banned from racing for his refusal to cooperate with the inquiry.

Sanctions

The penalty for Brock, McBride and the other guilty individuals was revealed at a sanctions hearing on Thursday 19 January. Brock was disqualified for 15 years, with the others disqualified for a period of between 7-15 years.

Read the decision and written reasons here: http://judicialpanel.britishhorseracing.com/results/result/?id=2328

A BHA statement on the matter read: “This welcome outcome sends a powerful message that conduct of this nature will never be tolerated in British racing.

“The conduct of the individuals found in breach in this case risked undermining confidence in our sport and flagrantly disregarded the hard work and dedication of people up and down the country who carry out their duties in good faith.

“It is vital that supporters and bettors have faith in the fairness and integrity of our sport. At the same time, participants must have absolute confidence that they are competing on a level playing field.

“We are grateful to the panel for their diligence in hearing and passing judgement on this important case.”

Louis also commented that “many sports face corruption within them and the effective detection and prosecution of them is the only way to fight corruption.”

This case has been reported in the sporting press including Racing Post, Sporting Life and The Guardian.

Find out more

Louis Weston is a sports lawyer with a successful and established practice in Sports Regulation, Governance, Disciplinary Cases, Safeguarding and Anti-Doping. He has appeared in many of the leading cases in the UK involving corruption in sport and has acted for and advised national and international sports regulatory bodies in the UK, Ireland, the Middle East and Asia across a range of sports including Horseracing, Snooker, Badminton, Rugby, Darts, Cricket, Gymnastics, and Greyhound Racing.

News 19 Jan, 2023