Jockey found to have conspired to manipulate race result

A jockey and an associate of a horse’s registered owner have been found to have conspired together to stop a horse from winning a race.

Dylan Kitts, a conditional jockey who never rode again and has since left racing, admitted to a disciplinary panel that he had stopped Hillsin from winning at Worcester in 2023.

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The 24-year-old had ridden the horse to finish a length and quarter behind the winner in third in a 2½-mile conditional jockeys’ handicap hurdle on July 5, 2023.

While everyone else was driving their mounts towards the finish line, Kitts (in red and white silks and on horse No 3) was sitting almost motionless on Hillsin, who appeared full of running.

Kitts admitted stopping the horse and told the panel it was the “worst decision of my life” and that he had taken instruction from John Higgins, 79, an associate of Hillsin’s registered owner Alan Clegg and father-in-law of one-time Premier League footballer Ashley Barnes.

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The jockey and Higgins were found in breach of conspiring to stop Hillsin achieve his best possible placing.

According to Kitts, Higgins, who was unable to attend the hearing and was believed to be in hospital last week, told him to stop Hillsin, an 11-1 shot, winning because of the “perception of a threat” and that if he “had to break my neck to make sure then so be it”.

The panel, however, concluded that “his life or personal safety was not threatened in the event that he failed to comply with the instructions” and that he had ample opportunity not to go ahead with the orders.

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Clegg was not charged by the British Horse Racing Authority while trainer Chris Honour was also cleared of any involvement in the conspiracy but was found to have misled the stewards in the post-race inquiry, having said the horse was “hanging” in a bid to defend the young jockey, who had been found wanting.

Honour’s solicitor said he was “mightily relieved” and that “he looks forward to getting on with the rest of his life”.

A spokesman for the BHA said that the case “strikes at the very heart” of the public’s confidence in racing being a “clean and fair” sport and that the verdict “demonstrates that our sport will not accept this sort of behaviour”.

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It said the length of time the inquiry took – more than two years – was because of it being an “extensive and complex investigation”.

The spokesman added: “The actions of those involved in the case are fundamentally incompatible with British racing’s values and are an affront to the many thousands of people, up and down the country, who dedicated their lives to this sport and to competing fairly.”

Higgins has already been banned for having failed to attend the hearing and provide phone records.

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Burnley striker Barnes, 35, was also banned for failing to supply his phone records.

However, Higgins’s lawyer pointed out that he was hugely inconvenienced by not being able to attend the hearing because of ill health and that the BHA had been unable to find any irregular betting activity by him. A sanctions hearing will be held at a later date expected to be in November.