Losing race from lead 'not ideal'

An eight-length lead on Ballinger Ridge evaporated when he was eased up in the home stretch
An Australian expert at a race-fixing trial said getting beaten after taking the lead was not "the ideal way" of deliberately losing a race.

Ray Murrihy made the admission under cross-examination by counsel for former champion jockey Kieren Fallon.

Mr Fallon, two riders and three others are accused of conspiracy to defraud by deliberately trying to lose 27 races.

One of those rides was on Ballinger Ridge when Mr Fallon eased up his horse and got caught on the line.

Mr Fallon got a 21-day ban for that ride and was vilified in the racing press.

Mr Fallon's counsel, John Kelsey-Fry QC, read out the transcript of a conversation with acting Detective Inspector Mark Manning who headed the police investigation in which Mr Murrihy said "on balance going to the front and exposing yourself and then getting beat from the front wouldn't be the ideal way to do it".

Mr Murrihy agreed that there were more subtle ways to lose a race.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said: "It would be suicidal, wouldn't it?"

"It exposes yourself to questions," he replied.

Mr Murrihy said he had seen jockeys do some desperate things to get beaten including jumping off horses just before the finishing line.

Videos shown

Mr Kelsey-Fry then showed Mr Murrihy and the jury a series of videos in which jockeys with apparently unassailable leads had eased up at the end and lost.

He said all of them received riding suspensions but none were ever accused of deliberately trying to lose.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said: "They were terrible blunders were they not?"

Mr Murrihy replied: "How do I know if it was a blunder... I can't exclude there wasn't some foul play."

Mr Murrihy was also asked about his criticism of Mr Fallon who rode a horse called Barking Mad to victory on 23 August 2004.

After a series of exchanges Mr Kelsey-Fry said: "Do you agree that considering the draw Mr Fallon did everything possible to ensure the maximum chance of Barking Mad winning that race?"

"I can't disagree with that proposition," said Mr Murrihy.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said: "That's the answer 'yes' then?"

"Yes," he replied.

Independent and impartial

Mr Murrihy was asked about the brief he had been given by the City of London Police.

"Were you being asked by Mr Manning to look for any evidence which would fit the allegation?"
John Kelsey-Fry QC

Mr Kelsey-Fry read out an e-mail in which it was made clear that the police were investigating allegations of jockeys trying to lose based on suspicious betting patterns.

Mr Manning was quoted as saying: "We're clearly looking for any evidence that he (Mr Fallon) wasn't looking to win the race?"

Mr Kelsey-Fry asked: "Is that what was happening? Were you being asked by Mr Manning to look for any evidence which would fit the allegation?"

Mr Murrihy replied: "I wouldn't have thought I was being pressed to do that. I knew I was looking at races where there was considered to be something untoward. I don't steer away from that.

"I knew there was something in the betting of those races but I didn't understand that City of London Police were saying to me 'look if there is anything crooked there and put it in because it may be evidence (against him)'. I was trying to give a view from my experience of racing."

Jockeys Kieren Fallon, 42, formerly of Newmarket, Cambridgeshire, but now of Tipperary, Ireland, Fergal Lynch, 29, of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Darren Williams, 29, of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, deny being involved in a conspiracy between December 2002 and August 2004.

Mr Lynch's brother, Shaun Lynch, 37, of Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Miles Rodgers, 38, of Silkstone, South Yorkshire, and Philip Sherkle, 42, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, also plead not guilty.

The trial continues.