Trying to Bribe his Way Back into the Action: The Resurgence of Jock McCracken
John McCracken, also known as ‘Jock’, is one of the dodgiest characters of the horse racing world. He is a prolific gambler, tipster and small time drug dealer, and an all round menace to the great sport of horse racing. He was arrested in 2005 and was later banned for life from the racetrack. He made his money by gambling and by providing tips to other gamblers on the track. He was also a small time drug dealer and was arrested with a large stash of cash in his property along with cocaine laden gambling chips. Did this individual feed off of the horse racing world or did the world of horse racing produce him and does it produce others like him?
The sport of horse racing is centred on betting. The more people bet the better and more exciting the race becomes. It is hardly about the horses or the skill of the jockeys anymore. It is only about which horse won the race and did the gambler bet money on that horse. Into this type of situation a John McCracken type character is born and grows. A person with criminal intent will be drawn to horse racing because there is a lot of money going around, and if he can use his dodgy tricks to get some inside information, then he can make even more money on the side.
McCracken’s history is a tale of sordid endeavours. “Police who raided a gambler's home found traces of cannabis, heroin and cocaine on more than £20,000 in cash and casino chips, a court has heard. McCracken would claim the cash and chips came from legitimate gambling, casinos and horse-racing but it is the Crown's case they came from drug dealing,” His dodgy tales don’t end there. He resurfaced a few days ago after being banned for life from the tracks for his illegal activities. He was in disguise and got to go to the tracks and watched a few races. He even put money down on some horses. His claims get even bigger because he also stated that he owns a few horses under different people’s names, and they regularly race on the tracks.
This interesting tale gets even more colourful because it has come to light that Jock wants his ban to be lifted. “‘Lots of people who've done far worse than I did have been getting a slap on the wrist or small bans and are back on the racecourse in a flash, but I'm banned for life. I'm seriously thinking of giving the BHA some juicy bits of information and trying to do a deal with them to get the ban lifted,’”. He stated this while talking to reporters recently. So basically, if the information is correct, he is trying to bribe his way back into the racetracks of the country by snitching on other dodgy people; the old saying of ‘As Thick as Thieves’ obviously doesn’t apply in this situation.
Now the question remains that is it a matter of the gambling aspect of racetracks that produce criminals like McCracken, or is it the fact that people like him thrive in scenarios like horse racing? The answer to this question may not be simple to answer and may never be answered because some say that horse racing is a legal and exciting sport that people go to for a day of fun.
Whereas others say that it is a den of illegal activity behind the scenes and produces dodgy characters in its wake. Can a sport really be blamed for what people do in its name? Cricket, for example, has had its fair share of dodgy activity related to match fixing and money laundering and gambling. Is cricket to blame or are people who bet on the game and then try to influence the match’s outcome to blame? It seems to be a little of both, because if betting on matches was outlawed, the problem would sufficiently decrease, but since it’s not, they need to police it a lot harder. The problem with horse racing is that it is a sport based around betting; that’s all it is about, nothing more, and so it does have a part to play in the production of criminals like McCracken. At the end of the day, the people running horse racing events will have to step it up to enforce a no illegal activity policy if they want to rid themselves of crooked characters like Jock McCracken for good. How easy that will be will have to be seen, but they can do it if they really wanted to.
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