Three jockeys were released on police bail last night after being arrested by Scotland Yard officers investigating British horse racing's biggest doping scandal for 37 years. The three - Jamie Osborne, Leighton Aspell and Dean Gallagher - were detained along with a fourth man after dawn raids at addresses in the south of England and were questioned at a central London police station.
The Jockey Club confirmed that three of those arrested were jockeys though Christopher Foster, executive director of the Jockey Club, said that as far as he was aware the fourth individual was neither a licensed jockey, a licensed trainer, nor a registered owner.
The arrests were made following extensive investigations by the Jockey Club's security department and then by the police into the doping of two horses last year and other incidents of race-fixing. All four were released on police bail last night.
The investigations focus on two races, one on March 7th when Avanti Express failed a drug test after being pulled up at odds of 5 to 4 for a novice hurdle at Exeter. The second race under scrutiny was on March 29th when an illegal substance was also found in the sample of Lively Knight after he was beaten at 1 to 7 in a three horse race at Plumpton.
The drug at the heart of the scandal is acetylpromazine, a fast-acting tranquiliser, which was revealed in urine tests as 2-1hydroxyethyl promazine, a metabolite of ACP. Such a drug would be administered to slow down a strong favourite and thus allow corrupt gamblers to win money on horses at better odds.
This is the most embarrassing doping scandal in racing since Pinturischio had to be withdrawn from the 1961 Derby amid strong speculation that substances had been administered.
The racing world was stunned by yesterday's arrests. "The feeling in the weighing room is one of shock - we are absolutely amazed," said jockey Mick Fitzgerald. "I hope there is nothing in it because the public, non-racing people, have a perception that racing is a little bit crooked and nothing could be further from the truth."
Many in racing point out that a jockey is the last person likely to be involved in doping a horse, because of the dangers of riding a tranquilised animal over fences.
The Jockey Club will question the three jockeys once the police have finished the first stages of their investigations. "It would not be a question of deciding whether they were guilty or not guilty," said Foster. "We would question them and decide if any action were required to protect the integrity of racing."
Mike Burton, chief racecourse representative for William Hill, said he was surprised by the allegations. "I am not naive enough to believe that certain little things don't happen," he said, "but this is a major shock. Racing can do without this sort of thing. We have got enough problems within the industry."
At Exeter, Avanti Express, trained by Charlie Egerton at Lambourn, and ridden by Osborne, drifted in the pre-race betting from 4 to 5 to 5 to 4 and was pulled up before the second last when well behind.
Osborne reported to the local stewards that his mount, usually a strong galloper, had "not picked up the bit, and was never travelling". Later he commented that Avanti Express was normally quite a free horse, but at Exeter he had seemed very lifeless.
Betting on the race was light. Dave Phillips, a prominent West Country bookmaker who stood at the course, said: "There was no money for Avanti Express, but the winner, Give And Take, was gambled on from 7 to 4 down to 11 to 10, some of the money coming back to the course from the offices. On a day like that, though, it would not have taken a lot to shorten him up."
