Fallon considers action against racing authority
An independent review, commissioned by the BHA, has recommended that the authority continue to investigate and prosecute breaches of the Rules of Racing and that the police should only be consulted in “the most exceptional cases”.
It is understood, however, that Kieren Fallon and his legal team are unhappy with the conduct of the BHA and some of its senior officers during their corruption investigation.
Correspondence is being exchanged between the top jockey’s side and the BHA, with the possibility of legal action in the near future.
Mr Fallon, 43, originally from Clare, but living in Newmarket, was suspended from racing for 15 months after being charged with conspiring to defraud customers of the betting exchange Betfair.
He is serving a ban relating to the discovery of cocaine in his system following a race in Paris last year.
Last year’s trial, following a prosecution by the City of London police, only started three years after the BHA referred its investigation into a gambling syndicate to the police.
Fallon, two other jockeys, a driver, a barman and a professional gambler were all cleared in December of the conspiracy charges.
Both the police and the BHA came in for considerable criticism after the trial. However, yesterday’s report from the review team into the BHA’s role in the case and the authority’s wider security arrangements found that the decision to involve the City of London Police in 2004 was “right in the circumstances” at the time.
But the review also recommended that the BHA “cannot allow its obligation to maintain the integrity of the sport to be compromised by the timetabling demands of a criminal prosecution”.
Yesterday’s report said that a number of agencies had described the BHA’s integrity, services and licensing department as “a model for the effective investigation of corruption in sport”.
The City of London Police are conducting their own review into the collapsed trial.
BHA chief-executive Nic Coward welcomed yesterday’s report: “It is reassuring to have Dame Elizabeth Neville confirm we are on the right tracks, but we do not under-estimate the seriousness of the potential attacks on the sport from betting-related corruption. Protecting the integrity of horse-racing remains a big priority.”
BHA director of integrity services and licensing Paul Scotney said it was “encouraging that several external bodies have said that they believe the job we do for racing is a model for the effective investigation of corruption in sport”.
