Lynch team ‘hopeful’ of licence reprieve

IRISH jockey Fergal Lynch is close to submitting an application to the British Horseracing Authority in a bid to regain his British riding licence.

Lynch, who was acquitted on alleged race-fixing charges in December 2007 when a trial at the Old Bailey collapsed, was given a £50,000 fine as part of a plea bargain with the BHA in 2009 after he admitted stopping a horse, supplying inside information about six of his rides, and associating with the disqualified Miles Rodgers.

Lynch moved to America in 2008, but in July 2009 his licence was withdrawn at Philadelphia Park, where he had been a leading rider. The jockey has recently been riding on a Spanish licence in Ireland, where he claimed a double at Dundalk on Friday evening.