Jockey Eddie Ahern has been banned from racing for 10 years whilst ex-footballer Neil Clement has been hit with a 15 ban
Jockey Eddie Ahern has been banned from horse racing for 10 years after he was found guilty of breaching three British Horseracing Authority (BHA) rules.
The decade long ban has been imposed on the group one-winning jockey after he was charged with conspiring to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice, passing information on for a reward and deliberately failing to ride a horse to merit.
The acts of misconduct are alleged to have taken place between September 2010 and February 2011.
At the same time former West Bromwich Albion defender Neil Clement, who is now a race horse trainer, has been banned from the sport for a combined 15 years. The 34-year-old who ended his playing career with Hull City in 2008 faced charges on five races which Ahern was involved in.
Clement and Ahearn, 35, were subject to a race at Kempton in February 2011 where Hinhu Kush, who was then owned by the ex-footballer, finished a race in last place.
Ahern’s solicitor Christopher Stewart-Moore said his client intends to appeal both the BHA disciplinary panel’s findings and the severity of the suspension.
The jockey’s solicitor Christopher Stewart-Moore said in a statement issued to Press Association Sport: “Eddie Ahern is absolutely devastated by the BHA Panel’s findings. He did not breach the rules of racing as found by the panel or at all and he will be appealing both the findings as well as the very harsh penalties imposed on him.”
Meanwhile Ahern’s counsel, Jonathan Harvie QC, feels his client had been harshly treated.
“I am reflecting on it that no doubt if you are counsel for somebody you have a more sympathetic view on it than the tribunal. I just happen to think he was hard done-by. You have to have got through the hearing to have framed a view about the merits,” Harvie said.
“They took one view, and Christopher Stewart-Moore and I took a slightly different view. Justice is an imperfect thing because people decide. Some people say one thing, some people say another, and a decision is reached. History is littered with imperfect decisions.
“I’m not for a moment criticising the tribunal.
“They came to a decision in no doubt good faith. I happen to think that there might have been a different view. There might have been a better view.”
He added: “But it’s not for me to impugn the judgement of the tribunal. He wants to appeal.”
Word: Adam Grice
Photo: Telegraph
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