Burke to appeal 12-month ban
The Middleham-based handler has been enjoying a fine season and recently saddled Lord Shanakill to Group One success in France.
Former owner Miles Rodgers meanwhile has been warned off for life, the BHA confirmed.
The BHA announced an investigation after concluding its review of evidence from the Old Bailey trial in 2007, where jockeys Darren Williams, Fergal Lynch, Kieren Fallon plus Rodgers were all acquitted of any wrongdoing.
Fallon did not have to face any further charges from the racing authorities but Williams, Lynch and Burke – who was arrested but released without charge as part of the original police investigation – were called before the disciplinary panel along with Rodgers.
Both jockeys and Burke faced charges concerning their relationships with Rodgers and whether they supplied him with inside information over 12 races in 2004.
Lynch and Williams admitted those charges on the first day of the hearing as well as failing to supply information requested by the BHA team.
Lynch also owned up to a charge of betting via Rodgers and stopping a horse from running on its merits.
Williams was banned for three months while Lynch, who is now based in America, paid a £50,000 fine and agreed not to apply for a British licence for 12 months.
The disciplinary panel said it was “very conscious of what it was told of Burke’s personal situation and training operation” and that it was recognised “a penalty of disqualification has a potentially very serious effect on his owners and employees especially.”
But despite that, the panel “felt driven to conclude that it was necessary to impose a disqualification on Burke, and that the proper period was 12 months, bringing into account the various features of this case.”
The BHA’s allegations against Burke were:
(1) breach of Rule 243 over the supply of inside information to Rodgers about 6 of his runners (these having been laid on Betfair through accounts controlled by Rodgers).
(2) breach of Rule 220(iv) for associating in relation to horseracing with Rodgers, who was a disqualified person for two years from 2 April 2004.
(3) breach of Rule 220(viii) because of misleading BHA investigators when interviewed in August 2008.
Regarding Rodgers, the BHA panel said “this is an obvious case for an indefinite exclusion order: Rodgers has wreaked havoc with the sport.
“The exclusion order will commence immediately and the Panel directs that no application by him for any relief from this indefinite exclusion should be entertained for 10 years. If he ever does apply, it would be necessary for him at least to produce credible evidence that he is a changed man who can be trusted to abide by the Rules, rather than a self-certified character reference. But even that sort of evidence is unlikely to lead to a change in the indefinite exclusion order unless there are compelling reasons for it.”
