Flat jockey Eddie Ahern’s career was left in tatters on Wednesday 22nd may 2013, when he was banned from racing for ten years following a BHA disciplinary hearing, having been found guilty of multiple breaches of the rules of racing.

Eddie Ahern

Eddie Ahern: intends to appeal against the ban

 PICTURE: David Ashdown

Eddie Ahern banned for ten years for corruption

 BY DAVID BAXTER 5:50 PM 22 MAY 2013 

Ahern, 35, is banned with immediate effect, having been due to ride at Kempton on Wednesday evening, with a BHA disciplinary panel finding him guilty of conspiring to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice with former Premier League footballer Neil Clement, communicating inside information for reward and intentionally failing to ensure a horse was run on its merits.

A veteran of the saddle for 20 years, former Irish champion apprentice Ahern, who won the Irish St Leger on Duncan in 2011, did not attend the hearing, with the charges centred around five rides between September 10, 2010, and February 11, 2011.

One of the rides was aboard the Jane Chapple-Hyam-trained Judgethemoment at Lingfield on January 21, 2011, with the panel determining Ahern had delivered a stopping ride.

Ahern set off at a furious pace on the then six-year-old in a 2m handicap, and weakened to finish last of the seven runners, beaten 35 lengths. Reviewing the ride, the panel described Ahern as “a careless, garrulous person who did not do this out of malice but out of stupidity”.

Even though Judgethemoment was an outsider to win the race, the panel added that a stopping ride remains “the cardinal sin that a jockey can commit”.

Under BHA rule (B)59.2 Ahern was banned for eight years for the offence.

An additional two-year ban was imposed for the other aspects of the conspiracy concocted by Ahern and Clement, which was proven through Ahern’s phone records and Clement’s betting history. Clement was striking sizable lay bets when Ahern was riding, and the pair were complicit in the corrupt practice.

Records revealed that Ahern and Clement were in regular contact, with Ahern calling or texting Clement 265 times over the seven-month period until the end of February 2011. Clement called or texted Ahern 163 time in the year up to November 2011. The pair also met frequently.

Jonathan Harvie, Ahern’s QC, has indicated his client wished to appeal the guilty verdict. Speaking outside the BHA’s office, Harvie said: “If you are counsel for somebody you have a more sympathetic view towards him than the tribunal, but I think he was hard done by.”

“You have to have gone through the hearing to have formed a view about the merits. The tribunal formed one view, and I and Christopher Stewart-Moore took a slightly different view.”

Clement, who was also charged with placing a lay bet on Hindu Kush when he was the owner, and for failing to provide phone records for the inquiry, has been disqualified for 15 years and three months and fined £3,000.

Reflecting on the panel’s findings, Adam Brickell, director of integrity, legal and risk for the BHA, said: “Today’s findings have confirmed that another network of corruption has been successfully prosecuted by the BHA.

“The clear message from this, and other cases heard in the last 18 months, should be that the BHA is better equipped than ever at pinpointing and prosecuting malpractice. The penalties imposed as a result of these cases being heard should serve as a deterrent to others.

“This investigation was another landmark in terms of our intelligence and evidence gathering capabilities as it was the first occasion on which we have received assistance from a spread betting company to bring a successful prosecution.”

fonte: RacingPost