Carter retracts claim he was told to stop Wainwright runner

Former jockey Adam Carter on Tuesday retracted his allegation that he was told to stop a horse by Malton trainer John Wainwright, claiming he had been "brainwashed" by others to give an account that would help secure a more lenient punishment.

In a dramatic development, the rider told a BHA inquiry he was not telling the truth when he made a statement in which he claimed he had been told not to ride the Wainwright-trained Blazeofenchantment on its merits in a race at Southwell in June 2014.

"I want to retract some of what I said," Carter said. "I had been brainwashed by a lot of people saying my career's over anyway.

"I had become a bit of a grass and now it's got out of control and they're getting the blame. I'm sorry it's got to this stage now."

Carter's admission led Robin Leach, the barrister representing Wainwright and John Wright, who are charged with the rider of conspiring to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice, to make a submission that his clients had no case to answer. After a short deliberation this was denied.

Carter was giving evidence on the second day of an inquiry into the running and riding of Blazeofenchantment, who finished seventh of nine in the Southwell race on his first start for the stable, for which he was sent off a 4-1 chance. Wainwright and Wright, who is not a registered or licensed person, deny the charges.

Also charged are stable employee Paul Bradley and Peter Bennett, who is also not registered or licensed, who are alleged to have known of the conspiracy from Carter and used the inside information to gain an advantage on the betting markets.

Carter said he was changing his evidence when BHA disciplinary panel chairman Tim Charlton took him through the differing accounts he had given in the case. At the Southwell stewards' inquiry and in his first interview with BHA investigators, he made no allegations against Wainwright or Wright.

But then before a second interview nine months after the race he had produced a statement, prepared with the help of Vicky Smart, wife of his then boss Bryan Smart, claiming he had been told to stop the horse.

"They were guiding me to say I stopped the horse to make out the BHA would be lenient on me if I said I stopped the horse," he said.

But he later said this was a lie and when asked by Charlton why he had not changed his story until Tuesday, he added: "I decided to come because I thought it wasn't right to leave it the way it was.

"I would like to say sorry. It was my doing. I should have told you earlier before I came down here."

Carter had started riding out once a week for Wainwright after renting out a neighbouring cottage with his girlfriend Lauren Mulholland. However, he told the hearing the relationship turned sour, leading to arguments and the police being called twice and him wanting her out.

At the time of the ride he said: "I was having a nightmare with domestic trouble with my ex-girlfriend. She was hounding me all day with calls and my head wasn't in the right place."

Carter said he was out of racing and worked for a contractor changing coin boxes for Tesco in Manchester but had no money. "I even had to get the BHA to pay my train ticket," he said.

Carter's instructions had been to get to the rail and try to make the running but the horse missed the break.

Reviewing the ride, he said: "I just look terrible. Seeing how far the other horses went away I thought I was never going to win, so I looked after the horse. I froze and panicked. If I was stopping a horse I wouldn't have rode it like that. I would probably have drilled it, ridden it out."

Weston said: "In the second interview and statement you made, you said you were told to stop the horse by Wainwright and Wright. If you look at the videos it looks like you did what you were told. The issue is to work out which of the accounts is truthful, that you had a brainfade or deliberately stopped the horse."

Weston said Mulholland had told investigators that Carter had told people he would get a two-year ban and she had heard "Adam had still not been paid for stopping the horse".

Carter said she was "quite a vindictive person". He added: "I never told her one thing. I wouldn't trust her with a barge pole."

He admitted speaking to Bradley before the race but denied telling him he was going to stop the horse.

Wainwright, 59, described Carter as "only an average jockey" and said the fallouts the jockey had with his girlfriend made him uncomfortable when the police became involved.

He said he only vaguely knew Wright, who was a friend of Ronnie Postlethwaite, who was instrumental in Blazeofenchantment coming to his yard.

He said he fancied Blazeofenchantment and his son placed a £20 each-way bet but Carter had given the horse "an appalling ride".

"I said to him, 'What the bloody hell has gone on there?' He didn't say a lot."

Although he suspected Carter had probably stopped the horse, he said he never put the allegation to him afterwards.

"I more or less wiped my hands of him," Wainwright said.

The case continues.