BHA delay McKeown verdict

Jockey Dean McKeown will have to wait to discover the result of his appeal against the British Horseracing Authority’s decision to warn him off for four years.

The hearing at the BHA’s London headquarters in Shaftesbury Avenue was concluded in two days.

However, a BHA appeal board has adjourned to consider its verdict.

“The appeal board hearing of Dean McKeown’s appeal against the finding of the disciplinary panel concluded today,” said BHA media relations manager Paul Struthers.

“The appeal board have adjourned to consider their verdict, which will be announced in due course, quite possibly not until the new year.”

McKeown, 48, received his punishment in October when a BHA disciplinary panel ruled he was part of a conspiracy to lay a number of horses trained by Paul Blockley, who decided not to contest the decision.

They also found McKeown guilty on four counts of not allowing horses to run on their merits.

McKeown had his first winner in 1977 and has set up a successful bloodstock business.