Fear, Pressure and a Nine-Year Ban: “You Can’t Condone What He Did” Dylan Kitts has received a nine-year ban after an independent British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel concluded he attempted to prevent Hillsin from winning at Worcester in July 2023. John Higgins, an associate of owner Alan Clegg, who was not accused of any wrongdoing, was deemed to be the instigator behind the scheme and has been on the BHA exclusion list since March 7 last year, the date to which his 12-year ban will be backdated after he failed to co-operate with the process. Trainer Chris Honour was found to have misled the stewards after the race, but was not judged to have been a driving force behind the plan and was fined £750 when several mitigating factors were considered. Flood - ’Something similar happened to me’ Paddy Flood offered critical insight into the pressures faced by jockeys and the importance of ethical choices when under duress. He emphasised that even when facing fear from an owner, alternatives exist for those with the courage to take them. "You can't condone what he did to be honest. It was so blatant and it was so wrong. Even if you're in that much fear of an owner or something, if he'd just let go of the horse's head and won on it, it wins. “What's going to happen? You win and report what happened in the parade ring to the stewards afterwards, he would have been protected." "Easy cash, anything easy is not worth doing really in racing." Paddy went on to tell the panel about a similar incident that happened to him when he was a young jockey: “Something similar happened to me when I was 17 or 18 - I got a message on my phone. "It said: listen, all you need to do is let me know when one of the favourites isn't going to win that you're riding." I said, "Okay." “I was young and a little bit dumb at the time. So I kind of got my ears pricked up a bit, you know, and thought about it straight away and I thought, geez, this could be the turf club. “So I just sent back, I said, look, I don't know who you are or what's going on. I don't believe this is real. And then he texted back and said, listen, I've left a phone for you in Xtra-vision, the old Xtra-vision shops in Newbridge. So just out of curiosity, I went in and there was a phone with one number on it. “At that moment, I scared myself and I rang Mick Halford and I said, "Listen, this is going on." And he said, "Just get rid of it, destroy it, and tell whoever it is not to contact you. "So, it does happen, you know, and if lads are struggling bad enough to pay a bill, they'll do stupid things.” The Trainer's Responsibility to know Owners Johnny Ward stressed the critical importance of trainers knowing their owners and conducting proper due diligence: "Know your owners as best you can and if the owners are a front for something else, make sure you find that out because that goes on as well, do a bit of digging just know your owners." However, Emma Nagle acknowledged the practical challenges facing trainers, particularly those struggling to maintain their operations. She added: "In some ways it's probably easier said than done for some operations. You know, there's trainers out there struggling. They're just looking to get horses in. If they're getting paid every month, that's probably going to be enough for a lot of them." “Perhaps the racing authorities should have stricter screening for the owner process.”
