BHA's Hillsin case: a thorough investigation paves the way for HRI

The BHA’s investigation into the Hillsin case deserves praise and sets an example as HRI examines similar cases, according to Johnny Ward.

It was announced last week that jockey Dylan Kitts and an associate of Hillsin’s owner John Higgins had been found to have deliberately stopped the horse from winning at Worcester in 2023.

Trainer Chris Honour was cleared of all charges except misleading the stewards.

It took over two years for the conclusion of the case and the sanctions are yet to be announced.

Verdict Worth Waiting For

“I suppose people might give out about the time it took for this to come to the conclusion,” Ward explained on irishracing.com’s The Irish Angle show this week.

“Obviously we still don't know the full story of what happened here, but I felt that Chris Honour probably didn't have anything to do with this from the get-go. He obviously got rid of the owner's horses post haste.

“He would point out afterwards, I think it was through his solicitor, that it was two really hard years for him.

“This sort of stuff really sticks and there are probably people who still don't believe the verdict.

“So for Chris Honour, these were two years where ultimately he was found completely innocent, but he would argue that these two years didn't help him at all in terms of his own reputation.

“I would give the BHA credit for this and God knows I criticise the authorities in Britain enough, but this was a very satisfactory outcome where there was some pretty disgraceful carry on really in terms of intimidation of a young jockey whose career was absolutely ruined by this.

“He might not be the brightest kid for going along and doing what he did, but at the same time he did feel under duress on the day.

“I do wonder would the IHRB be in a position to come up with a similar solution to a case even if it took two years?

“We have some high-profile cases that are still in the melting pot at the moment.

“I actually felt that the BHA did a very good job here. It did a pretty accurate job in my view of finding out what happened.”

‘Incredible Damage’ To The Sport

Ward added that the case has done “incredible damage” to the sport and it is to the BHA’s credit that a thorough investigation was completed.

He said: “I was thinking of this today. Pretty much every day of the week there are horses who are, effectively, out for a run.

“Some people don't bet on horses because they think it's corrupt, but putting horses out for a run is a pretty benign practice because it's a horse who is not going to win the race and they're out to gain experience. I don't have a major problem with that.

“It's been done since the start of horse racing. Horses are not always fit. Horses have a target in mind.

“Not every horse is going to be called in for finishing 10th when he should have finished eighth, stuff like that.

“But when it gets to a blatant stopping of a horse winning, a horse who was absolutely rotten in the betting, and this is not the first example I've seen of this in recent years, I believe that that does incredible damage to racing. I really do.

“I think the BHA deserves credit. They did a thorough job on this.

“I don't know Chris Honour, but I am glad that he was exonerated and those individuals who not only were found guilty, and I'm not talking about the jockey here, but also didn't help the inquiry. They should have a long hard look at themselves.”

Honour’s Role Clarified

Vincent Finegan pointed out that trainer Honour was found guilty of misleading the stewards in the aftermath of the race in Worcester.

He said: “But of course Chris Honour did also give misleading information while he's not found guilty of actually being involved in the stopping of the horse.

“It'll be interesting to see what the verdicts are on this and what the sentences are for the likes of Dylan Kitts

“What does a kid like him do if someone is literally threatening him in a race. That's the problem here. It probably should go to the police rather than anything else I suppose.”

Sympathy For Young Jockey

Emma Nagle added she had “massive pity” for jockey Kitts, given his position in the industry.

She said: “I know Dylan Kitts was complicit in the whole thing, but you'd have to have massive pity for him as well.

“He was a young jockey, kind of a journeyman jockey, at the time. He wasn't riding hundreds of winners every year.

“Going through the detail of the events, it was an associate of the owner John Higgins who Kitts described as ‘groomed him into this sense of security’ and made him feel like it was kind of a friendship, bringing him in regularly, giving him advice on his rides and things like that.

“When it came down to it, he was asking him to not ride his horses to their merits.

“There were details about him being transferred £100, £150 pounds after they had landed big bets. It's small sums of money but you'd feel sorry for the young jockey because obviously he might have been struggling to make a living and is young and impressionable. He just got wrapped up in something he shouldn't have been involved in.”

“You'd have to feel massive pity as well for the trainer Chris Honour. At the time when it was all going on. I'd imagine he was branded by plenty to be involved in the whole thing when it turns out he didn't have any knowledge of it going on.

“I know he was found guilty of misleading the stewards but it sounded as if it was more of a case of him trying to protect his young rider more so than his own involvement in what went on.

“What penalties will be handed down will be interesting.

“I think the people involved are probably not going to be getting too heavily involved in horse racing either way going forward. They’ve probably done their job now.

“The BHA did their job. Look, people will complain about the timeline and I probably was one to complain about the timeline, but it was obviously a very complicated case.

“You'd imagine that all parties would probably be warned off for life, barring the trainer Chris Honour who wasn't involved in the gambling side of it.”

Owners Influence Highlighted

Johnny Ward added that the role of owners in how a horse will run is possibly underappreciated by the public.

He added: “We should say as well, there are trainers in Ireland, and I've spoken to them, who, for specific owners on a given day, don't know how their horse is going to run.

“Chris Honour in this instance basically, his line to the jockey was: ‘talk to the owners’.

“He was probably conscious of the fact that it was a tricky situation.

“There are trainers in Ireland. You ask ‘How will the horse run today?’ ‘I'm not sure’ because the trainer himself doesn't exactly know what the owner is going to do and that does happen in Ireland every week pretty much of the year.”

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