LONDON, UK - Professional gambler Harry Findlay has been handed a six month ban from every UK racecourse after taking bets against his own horses.

Findlay has been “warned off”, the UK racing authorities technical term for anyone who has breached their rules so seriously that they feel that person should be banned from every racecourse and stables and from owning horses.

Findlay, who described himself as “heartbroken” by the ban, is one of Britain’s biggest gamblers and is best known for having a half share in Cheltenham Gold Cup winning horse Denman. He has owned several top class chasers and is one of the best known characters in British racing.

He said he would appeal against the ban, saying that he was only in technical breach of the horseracing authorities code and that the judgement was unfairly harsh. He also said that he would never own horses in the UK again.

The British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel found that on two occassions Findlay had taken bets on the Betfair betting exchange on horses that he owned. However in each case Findlay bet more on the horse concerned, Gullible Gordon, than he took in bets, meaning that he was a net backer of his own horses. In one case he claimed he had pressed the wrong button on Betfair and then immediately reversed his position and on another occassion a friend, Glenn Gill, had been using Findlay’s Betfair account and laid a small amount of Gullible Gordon in running to cover an earlier bet on him to win. Findlay had admitted the offences but pointed out that he was a substantial net backer of his horses and that if they failed to win their races he would have lost substantial amounts of money.

The BHA accepted that Findlay had no corrupt motive and for that reason banned him for six months rather than the full 18 months that can be applied to owners who ‘lay’ (take bets) on their own horses.

Harry Findlay’s mother Margaret, who has horses in her name, will also be prevented from having runners during the six month ban period.

Betfair said they would continue to take bets from Findlay during the period of the ban and described the judgement as disproportionate: “We understand that whilst this may have been a technical breach he was, in effect, overwhelmingly a net backer of the horses in question.

“When the rule was introduced the then Jockey Club made clear that it was a rule that necessarily had to be applied in spirit as well as in law. We do not believe the punishment to be proportionate or, for that matter, consistent with similar offences in the past. We will continue to welcome Harry as a customer.”

Opinion: Findlay ban is bad for horseracing

tags: ban, bha, british horseracing authority, gullible gordon, harry findlay, horseracing, six month