Devastated jockey Eddie Ahern will appeal a 10-year disqualification imposed after he was found guilty of corruption charges.
The British Horseracing Authority handed down the ban after finding the 35-year-old had failed to ensure Judgethemoment was ridden on its merits at Lingfield in January 2011, and of passing information for reward.
He was also found guilty of conspiring to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice in relation to the laying of five horses between September 2010 and February 2011.
Ahern’s solicitor Christopher Stewart-Moore said his client intended to appeal both the findings and the severity of the suspension.
“Eddie Ahern is absolutely devastated by the BHA Panel’s findings,” Stewart-Moore said in a statement to the Press Association.
“He did not breach the rules of racing as found by the panel or at all and he will be appealing both the findings as well as the very harsh penalties imposed on him.”
Former West Brom footballer Neil Clement has been disqualified from the sport for 15 years and three months. He was also fined STG3000 ($A4,668).
Clement faced charges relating to the five races Ahern rode in and also the laying of Hindu Kush, which he then owned, when that horse finished last of six at Kempton in February 2011.
The Jane Chapple-Hyam trained Judgethemoment finished last of seven runners in a two-mile handicap, having been well clear at the halfway stage.
Ahern’s explanation for the ride was that he misjudged the pace and did not realise he was so far ahead.
The BHA disciplinary panel said it “could not accept that a jockey of Ahern’s experience, especially on the all-weather at Lingfield, could have made an error of such an extent”.
A statement from the Panel said it considered an eight-year ban was appropriate for the conspiracy of the Judgethemoment breach.
“Stopping a horse is just about the worst breach a jockey can commit and all must understand that potentially career ending penalties will follow,” the BHA said.
The BHA also decided to impose a further two-year disqualification for the other aspects of the conspiracy in which it said Ahern was engaged in passing on inside information to Clement.
Ahern was the champion apprentice in Ireland in 1997 and has gone on to forge a successful career in Britain.
Adam Brickell, Director of Integrity, Legal and Risk for the BHA, said the successful prosecution highlighted the advances made by his organisation in uncovering corruption.
“The clear message from this, and other cases heard in the last 18 months, should be that the BHA is better equipped than ever at pinpointing and prosecuting malpractice,” he said.
“The links we have developed with betting organisations and the advances made in our sharing of data and intelligence mean that we are increasingly effective at gathering evidence that leads to prosecutions.”
