A JOCKEY has been hit with a huge ten-year ban for his role in an illegal betting scheme which saw a professional punter spend £1.25m betting on losers.
Lewis German, 25, appeared before the Victoria Racing Tribunal on Tuesday and was hit with the sentence.
Lewis German has been hit with a ten-year racing ban by an Australian tribunal[/caption]
A professional punter placed 89 lay bets on him[/caption]
The inquiry heard that a professional punter called Noah Brash placed 89 lay bets on the rider’s mounts over a four-month period in 2022, with 87 of them coming back successful.
That landed Brash a profit of £127,000, though German was never found to have earned any money from the scheme himself.
Adrian Anderson, representing local stewards, said the case struck “at the heart of the image and integrity of the racing industry”.
He added that a 20-year ban would be appropriate but said in light of German’s guilty plea and other mitigating factors, the stewards would push for a ten-year suspension.
German admitted three of the charges against him, but said: “Obviously, I am here today to plead my guilt. I feel that penalties that the stewards are pushing for are, in my opinion, ridiculous.
“I feel that as an apprentice jockey, it’s the first part of your career and it’s a learning curve. Everyone makes mistakes.
“I feel that Mr Brash had manipulated certain people extremely well to the point where I think that the stewards can’t even see it.
“I have never profited from this whole scheme as they call it and none of the bets were actually mine so at the end off the day, I can’t see how 15 years for Charge 4 is even relevant when people are getting three weeks for the same thing pretty much if people open their eyes. But that’s my opinion.
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“I am not here to tell a sad story. I am here to apologise to the racing community and to everyone who trusted in me. I feel like I let them down.
“I have not received any money. I believed there was going to be money. I was told that I would be paid at the start but I was probably gullible at the time.”
German was also found not to have reported a previous approach from a punter which saw him offered £2500 not to ride a horse on its merits.
He also failed to disclose he had opened two betting accounts while and was found to have engaged in conduct prejudicial to the image of horse racing.
According to Racing.com, tribunal chair Judge John Bowman said: “We are of the view that the appropriate penalty for this offence is a disqualification for a period of 10 years.”
Noah Brash received a ten-year ban from all racecourses in a hearing in December.
