Keightley warned-off for three years over Red Lancer affair
Keightley was also fined £3,500 and told not to reapply for a training licence for a further two years after the warning-off period expires.
Red Lancer’s jockey Pat McCabe was banned for 28 days after being found in breach of rule 157, which concerns allowing a horse to run on its merits.
Keightley, who was represented by Stephen Gilchrist at the disciplinary panel hearing yesterday, was found guilty of five separate charges but he plans to contest the decision.
Gilchrist said: “Mr Keightley is very disappointed at the outcome but intends to appeal this decision.
“Over and above this, Mr Keightley has no further comment at this time.”
Red Lancer finished ninth of 11 runners in the wolverhampton-racecourse.co.uk Selling Stakes at Dunstall Park on October 20, 2003.
Keightley and McCabe were two of five people involved in the inquiry along with Christopher Coleman, his son Dean and Neil Yorke, all of whom are already excluded for corrupt betting practices.
After a three-day hearing, the disciplinary panel found Keightley had instructed McCabe, with a view to financial gain for himself and/or others, not to ride Red Lancer on his merits but to ensure it would not win in the interests of bets laid by Coleman and his associates.
Keightley was judged to have obtained information about Red Lancer which was not publicly available but made him confident of the horse not winning or being placed.
The panel decided he then communicated those details to Coleman “knowing or foreseeing as a real possibility that he and/or others associated with him would use the information to commit a corrupt practice, namely laying the horse to lose or not to be placed”.
Keightley was also found in breach of rule 155 (ii) in that he did not give McCabe adequate instructions to ensure the horse ran on its merits and rule 220 (iv) concerning associating with Coleman who had already been excluded from the sport.
The final charge Keightley was found guilty of was endeavouring to mislead a Jockey Club official as to the purpose of his calls to Coleman.
Keightley told the official he had called Coleman to discuss purchasing suits and Keightley’s divorce but the panel decided he was actually discussing racing.
The only breach Keightley was cleared of was communicating information for material reward.
McCabe, meanwhile, was found to have deliberately caused Red Lancer to miss the break by restraining the horse in the stalls.
The panel also ruled he failed to take all reasonable measures to obtain the best possible placing with the intention of affecting the result.
However, the rider was relieved to hear he had been cleared of the more serious charge of breaking rule 220 (i), namely aiding and abetting the corrupt acts of others.
He said: “This case has been hanging over me for over two years.
“It is a small mercy that it is all over now, and this decision means I can get my career back on track.
“I am very grateful for the support I have had from Mr (Roger) Charlton and my lawyers.”
McCabe was represented by Louis Weston and Richard Brooks of Withy King solicitors.
Brooks added: “Pat has been found to have failed to ride a horse on its merits.
“He was not found guilty of any corrupt act and is relieved to depart from the Jockey Club without any such taint or slur on his character.
“The disciplinary panel effectively decided he was oblivious to what may have been going on in the background.”
McCabe’s ban was above the upper limit for the offence as he had been found guilty under the same charge earlier that year.
He was banned for 12 days in January 2003 after partnering the Keightley-trained Zagala to finish sixth in the Football Prices On ITV Page 367 Maiden Stakes at Lingfield.
Coleman and his associates, who were not present or represented at the inquiry, were all found in breach of rule 201 (v) in that they employed a corrupt practice by laying Red Lancer to lose having used Keightley’s information.
However, as they have already been warned off for an indefinite period, no further action can be taken against them.
