British Horseracing Authority bans Pearce and Huffer
It has been revealed that the famed trainer Jeff Pearce and the winner of Classic meetings, trainer Geoff Huffer, have been banned by the British Horse Racing Authority (BHA). The duo has reportedly been banned for three and four years respectively,
because they ran their trainee Sabre Light in a winner of the 2008 edition of the Lingfield meeting.
The duo was proven guilty for conspiring to run their racehorse Sabre Light in the meeting, while the colt was off the merit for that event. On the other hand, the other connection of the racehorse - jockey Jerry O’Dwyer - has also been found guilty
of the same offence as the trainers, and has been banned from participating in the sport for 18 months.
An investigation into the matter was launched on 26 Novemberlast year, which has been revealed to have concluded on 1December, 2010. However, its findings were announced today. There is further a list of seven people who have been found to be part
of this conspiracy planned by the trainers. As for the others involved, it has been reported that they have been warned off by the BHA for an indefinite period of time.
The racehorse Sabre Light won the three previous meetings of his career, before he was made a part of the Lingfield meeting off the merit. He was sent out to contend the event as a 7-2 favourite with the sponsors. The racehorse did not give a very
impressive performance on the racecourse and only managed to finish the race in the fifth spot. The jockey was then blamed for Sabre Light’s loss, as he was accused of stopping the horse in the middle of the race.
It was declared during the the hearing that the true owner of the racehorse was Huffer, and that both trainers (Huffer and Pearce) made an attempt to mislead the BHA about who the actual owner was. O’Brien was also found to be a part of this deception
and was fined 5,000 pounds for his involvement.
The BHA panel had several grounds for claiming that the racehorse was off the merit for the Lingfield meeting, when they compared his previous performances under the same jockey.
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