The FIX is in

[ExPlayer]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/2299631.stm

   Big stink in England over crooked Trainers, Jockeys, and Bookmakers, you can see the broadcast at that link.


   Who thinks this doesn\'t go on here, and BIG TIME.

[ExPlayer]

  My question is this, do these guys use the Sheets to figure out who to stiff? ;-)



JOCKEY: I THREW SIX RACES FOR CASH Oct 8 2002

 
New shock after probe
 
Calum Macdonald Exclusive
 


A FORMER jockey last night revealed how he made thousands of pounds throwing races for corrupt owners.

The ex-apprentice also told how he and fellow jockeys plotted to make sure the horses they had backed finished first.

His confession comes as the probe into corruption in the sport and links to organised crime intensifies.

\"Jamie\" (we have changed his name to protect his identity) told the Record he was once paid £10,000 not to ride a horse.

He also says he accepted bungs of £500 to £1000 a time to \"box in\" a rival horse to make sure it had no chance of winning.

He said: \"The reason I am speaking out is because I am sick to death of watching guys blow their wages at the bookies when I know deep down that they aren\'t getting a run for their money.\"

As a teenager, Jamie, from Glasgow, dreamed of being a champion jockey like his hero Willie Carson.

He thought if he worked hard at his apprenticeship and gained enough experience, he would hit the big time.

However, the deeper he became immersed in the racing world the more his eyes were opened to race fixing and bribery.

He said: \"On one occasion, I sat in a sauna with five other jockeys who were going to be riding in a six horse race that day.

\"We all decided who was going to win. Say there was a 7/2 favourite, a 6/1 and an 8/1 - we would put our money on the 8/1 shot. Instead of 10 per cent of the £1000 prize money, we\'d all get a couple of grand.

\"We worked in a team and were all given specific targets to block.\"

Jamie began his apprenticeship aged 19 at Newmarket. He spent a few years in Scandinavia to gain experience but the pressure of keeping his weight down lead to drug abuse.

He said: \"Life as an apprentice was tough. You are treated like dirt.

Drugs

\"I had to take amphetamines to suppress my appetite in order to keep my weight down.

\"If I was told two days before a race I\'d be riding and realised I wasn\'t going to make the weight, I had to take drugs.

\"In the next two days I wouldn\'t eat, I\'d drink plenty of fluids, take speed pills and run and sit in the sauna.\"

After success abroad, Jamie returned to Britain and was introduced to the seedy world of race fixing.

He said: \"I always thought racing was all about winning, about being the best.

\"My hero was Willie Carson and, like him, I wanted to go out there and win, win, win.

\"I started getting good horses underneath me. When I was riding them every day I would know which horses were the best and I would spy on the trainer for the owner to make sure he was doing the job right.

\"I knew the rumours about race fixing and had heard what was happening. Then I started getting told I\'m only taking the horse out for a run, that it was not to win.

\"But when I was in a race sitting on a horse I knew could win, and people back home were all rooting for me and putting their money on me, it made me feel rotten.\"

Jamie says the orders to throw a race never came from the trainers.

He said: \"It came from the people who paid the bills - the owners.\"

Jamie revealed various ways races could be fixed. He said: \"The owner would tell me to take it down the front if it wasn\'t a front-runner.

\"Sometimes they would put an apprentice on a horse and make it look like the horse bolted. Then they would blame the apprentice for not being experienced enough.\"

One time, Jamie was paid £10,000 NOT to ride a horse because a huge wager had been placed on it.

He said: \"I rode it out the first time at 50/1 in a maiden.

\"I was told, jump about and let him run and tire out before the race.

\"He wasn\'t meant to win because they were trying to con the handicappers for the next race.

\"But he was such a good horse that three furlongs out, he picked up.

\"He was so good that he was still going to win it and I had to make an excuse that I dropped my whip and reins and lost ground. I was scared in case I made a mistake and won.

\"The next time out, the horse was supposed to win and I was supposed to ride it but I was taken off when a £60,000 bet was placed in case I made a mistake.

\"It was far, far better than the other horses. It shouldn\'t have been running in that field but they were conning the handicappers and I was paid £10,000 just for not riding.

\"Usually though, I would get between £500 and £1000 for stopping a horse.\"

Sometimes confusion would reign when more than one owner tried to stitch up the race and jockeys were all involved in their own fixes without consulting each other.

He said: \"Sometimes I\'d be told to stop a horse but then other jockeys in the same race would be getting paid by other owners to do the same.

\"I\'ve seen a fight in the weighing room because of that - jockeys in fist-fights because no-one knew what the others were up to and were all blaming one another for ruining the race for them.

\"If there was a six-horse race and three jockeys worked together, we would decide the tactics of how we block the others to let the horse we\'ve got our money on through.

\"I\'ve been in situations where I\'ve been in a race and I\'m blocking horses behind. The horse out in front was the one I had my money on.

Jamie no longer rides and looks back on his career with sadness.

He said: \"When my eyes were opened to what was happening I knew that my dream was over, that I wasn\'t going to make it big because I was just a pawn.

\"It\'d be like playing for Rangers or Celtic and being told to go out on Old Firm day and lose the game.\"

Jamie is still pressed by punters for tips because of his background.

He always gives the same reply: \"When people stop me in the bookies and ask for a tip I tell them don\'t wash your feet with your socks on.

\"Don\'t gamble. It\'s a mugs\' game.\"

Yesterday, we exposed race fixer Hugh O\'Donnell, who boasted of the ease with which he could guarantee the result of a race.

It followed Sunday\'s Panorama, in which Major Rodger Buffham, ex-director of security at the Jockey Club, revealed the scale of the problem, sparking a massive inquiry.

RECORD

DEBATE

I\'ve been a bookmaker and punter for 20 years. Yes it is corrupt. Betting patterns give it away due to pure greed by those involved - W, Glasgow.

Strange a short-priced horse is beat many times then wins when its price is pushed out - M, Glasgow.

Vast majority of racing is fair and square. Great jockeys like Tony McCoy can\'t be tarred with the same brush as cheats - DC, Ayrshire.

Don\'t like racing but if I was paid £5000 to lose I would have no qualms. Minority is crooked, but isn\'t all sport? - A, Glasgow.

Whip the cheating jockeys instead of the poor beasts who only want their oats - MC, Glasgow.

The biggest dopes in racing are the punters. Have you ever met a poor bookie? - TM, East Lothian

[OPM]

I wonder if we would limit racing to 50 races/day throughout the country if this would make a difference.  These 50 races would have minimum purses of probably 75k-100k, thus, it takes some of the incentive out of cheating.  How can you make a living running for 5k purses.  On the weekends you can increase the # of races to 75-100.  You would have 3-4 zones and tracks would take turn running in these zones.  Everyone would be betting on the sames races/horses and this would make it easier to keep track of all these animals.  They do something similar in Hong Kong and the handle their is tremendous.  Imaging having $15 million  pick 6 pools?  Of course this would never happen here since everyone would want to run at their track and the state would want their money, etc. but with simulcasting, the money would be the same with less overhead.
Any thoughts?

[HP]

This story is almost note for note identical to a chapter in the book \"Joe Dogs: My Life In The Mafia\" (one of the better books I\'ve bought at the airport) where the writer describes race fixing at Gulfstream Park in the 1970\'s. HP

[Phalaris]

I had the thought a few years ago that it might be an interesting experiment to restrict the premier meets to only running on holidays, Saturdays and Sundays (excepting Del Mar and Saratoga). This would necessarily result in the following:

1) Fewer races at bigger, better tracks, which theoretically would result in bigger, better fields on the days they do run. Since there are so many fewer races, the distribution of the same purse money results in much higher purses. If more people are willing to bet more on the these bigger, more competitive fields, then there would be even more money for future purses.

2) Opportunity for lesser tracks to run on the weekdays unopposed. If they have anything resembling a worthwhile product that simulcast bettors are willing to bet on and work their contracts right, this could get extra simulcast bucks coming in, thereby leading to better purses for them, too.

Unfortunately, the \"more is more\" concept is firmly entrenched among horsemen, legislators, et al.