Fixing cases a reminder of skulduggery that has stained horse racing

The Hillsin affair demonstrates that conspiring to stop a runner is one thing, but getting away with it is another.

Dylan Kitts, who admitted preventing Hillsin from running on his merits at Worcester in July 2023. Pic: Tim Goode/PA Wire.

A little over two years after one of the most bizarre and downright suspicious riding performances on a British racecourse in recent decades, the British Horseracing Authority’s independent disciplinary panel confirmed last week that Dylan Kitts had deliberately stopped Hillsin from winning a handicap hurdle at Worcester on 5 July 2023, in a conspiracy with John Higgins, an associate of Hillsin’s owner, to profit from “lay” bets on the gelding.

A few days earlier, meanwhile, a 42-year-old man from Bury was arrested by Greater Manchester police, following an investigation by the Gambling Commission “in connection with allegations of fixing horse races”.