Kelly hit by year's ban

Last updated at 22:07 20 April 2007


Flat jockeys Shane

Kelly, Fran Ferris and

David Nolan, jump

jockey Josh Byrne and

trainer Phil McEntee were

all suspended from racing

by the HRA yesterday after

being found guilty of

communicating information

for reward.

The men were found to have

told Bolton mortgage broker

come tipster Ajaz Khan on a

total of 37 occasions what they

believed was going to happen to

their mounts/horses in races

between September 2004 and

March 2005.

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Shane Kelly

Khan, who is already warned off

until July 2009, was also found

guilty of being in contact with the

licensed persons above and of

committing a corrupt or fraudulent

practice in utilising information to lay horses to lose, using

his own and the Betfair accounts

of five other people who were also

banned from going racing.

Kelly and McEntee, both Newmarket

based, are suspended for

12 months, Nolan for nine

months and Byrne for four

months. Byrne’s lesser term was

the result of his owning up to

being in contact with Khan.

Kelly, 28, was originally accused

of stopping Local Fancy at Warwick

on March 28, 2005. However

HRA stewards found that he was

not in breach and that he hadn’t

stopped the horse.

He said last night: "I am pleased

that I was cleared of the main

allegation of stopping horses. I

don’t think the evidence was

there to suspend me for 12

months. I wish the press were

allowed in to the hearing to see

how little evidence there was.

"I will be able to work for trainers

like Jeremy Noseda and

Jamie Osborne who have been

very supportive of me."

Ferris, who is already banned

on two previous counts — ‘not

being a fit and proper person’

and ‘passing information for

reward’ to bookmaker Ian

Nicholl — did not defend himself

on this occasion.

But lawyers representing him

will seek mitigation on his behalf

today.

Ferris’s penalty is likely to be

stiffer because he was found

guilty of deliberately riding a

horse to lose in the knowledge

that it was being laid to lose or

having received a reward.

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