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Bloodstock Crackdown Bloodstock agents and breeders who rip-off racehorse owners face the humiliation of being banished from Britain's 59 racecourses under proposals being discussed by the Jockey Club. The plan to 'warn off' those found guilty of malpractice flows directly from an investigation by The Daily Telegraph earlier this year which revealed financial corruption is rife within the £250 million horse-trading industry. The investigation followed a court case last December involving the proposed sale of Foodbroker Fancy, in which a judge levelled accusations of 'bribery' against David Elsworth, the Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer, and Charlie Gordon-Watson, one of the country's leading bloodstock agents. The Jockey Club have known for some time that wrong-doing within the bloodstock industry is 'endemic.' The latest court case - the second of its kind in recent years - underlined how behaviour regarded by many within the bloodstock world as acceptable custom and practice is flagrantly against the law of the land. After hearing how Elsworth had been offered a £10,000 sweetener in October 2001 by Gordon-Watson to ensure the sale of Foodbroker Fancy, in addition to the £13,750 commission the trainer was due to receive from the filly's owners, Judge Michael Dean QC was withering in his criticism. "That is illegal, it is quite illegal. And if that is the way this business is conducted, the sooner the people involved change their ways, the better. That is what is called bribery and secret profits," he said at London County Court. A code of conduct for trainers, covering dealings with owners, was introduced by the Jockey Club last year, which seeks to reflect what has been the strict legal position for decades. The code followed another court case in 1999 in which a judge awarded an owner £51,000 in damages after concluding that Oliver Sherwood and Paul Webber had been guilty of "collusive bidding" at Doncaster sales. However, the absence of any enforceable code covering bloodstock agents and breeders could, in theory, result in a trainer being warned off for malpractice - while the horse trader, who possibly instigated the wrong-doing, went unpunished. The Jockey Club want to end such a "monstrously silly" loophole by being able to enforce a code, covering those in the bloodstock world, which reflects agency law. To get around the problem of horse traders not being licensed by racing's regulator, it is envisaged the Thoroughbred Breeders Association and Federation of Bloodstock Agents would produce a code similar in content to the one covering trainers and owners and ask the Jockey Club to enforce it. Significantly, the code would apply to all bloodstock agents and breeders - not just members of the respective trade associations - and Jockey Club involvement would be triggered by a complaint from a registered owner. "We are really after breaches of the law - such as fraud. We are not after something that is a rather strong case of bad manners in the auction ring," one Portman Square insider told me. Anyone found in serious breach would be 'warned off' every British racecourse. In theory, banned persons could still attend the sales and continue trading but, in practice, the publication of their punishment in the Racing Calendar - and the media - would render them pariahs in racing circles. The Jockey Club plan neatly sidesteps all the problems associated with having to license horse traders, many of whom come from overseas to attend Newmarket or Doncaster sales, or the legal challenges provoked by restricting someone's trade. Above all, the threat of being warned off should act as a deterrent and may go some way to changing the culture of wrongdoing which permeates the bloodstock world. If the proposals gain approval - and the determination of the Jockey Club to clamp down on this kind of skulduggery is unquestionable - any sale conducted under English law would be covered. Bloodstock agents and breeders from other countries, such as Ireland, could be warned off British racecourses if found guilty of corrupt or fraudulent behaviour here. However, the Jockey Club would not seek reciprocity from other racing authorities around the world. A final decision will await the summit of racing organisations, announced by the Jockey Club in the wake of The Daily Telegraph investigation, which will be chaired on April 1 by Julian Richmond-Watson, the Senior Steward. |