Former trainer Gary Sanderson facing disqualification after animal cruelty convictions

Former trainer Gary Sanderson is facing disqualification from racing after a disciplinary panel deemed his convictions for animal cruelty were connected to the sport.

Sanderson, 60, was convicted by York magistrates last July of nine charges relating to the treatment of five horses kept on an area known as Bulmer Bank near his base at Lilling Hall Farm in North Yorkshire in 2019.

The horses were seized by the RSPCA after the charity was informed of concerns by a vet following the arrival of a mare, Lexi’s Beauty, at Rainbow Equine Hospital in Malton. The mare was said to be “emaciated” having aborted her foal and was suffering from rain scald, diarrhoea, dermatitis and an inflamed uterus. She was euthanised.

Three mares – Balinka, Pride Of The Oaks and Leah’s Pride – and a gelding, Joey The Schnoze, were subsequently seized. They were reported as having body scores of two or lower out of five and a “heavy louse burden”, overgrown feet and poor teeth. 

The RSPCA deemed the fencing inadequate at the bank, that the field lacked suitable grazing with no additional forage provided and said there was evidence the horses had stripped nearby trees of bark due to a lack of food.

Charlotte Davison, representing the BHA, said neither the regulator nor the RSPCA had concerns about the horses Sanderson kept at his yard, but that the convictions for the horses on the bank were a “reputational risk” and that, as he was a licensed trainer and the animal cruelty charges related to thoroughbreds, they “quite clearly were in connection with horseracing”.

Davison said: “He was a licensed trainer throughout, he was required to place the welfare of these animals at the forefront of everything he did and he didn’t do that. The reputational risk of anyone associated with the sport being convicted of [a] matter that adversely affects welfare, especially of a thoroughbred horse, is huge and cannot be underestimated.

“He is clearly someone who knows how to look after horses but he didn’t apply that to the horses on Bulmer Hill [sic]. He is not somebody who in any way should be involved in racing.”

Sanderson said it had been his “dream” to be a trainer having worked in the sport since 1979 and that the mares on the bank were his “golden hens” who had bred him the horses to allow him to pursue his ambition.

Sanderson rejected the assertion the horses had been in poor condition and said he was the victim of a “cover-up by three big corporate companies” after complaining one of his horses, Miss Rebero, had been given an out-of-date vaccine by a vet which prevented her from running. He said another vet had failed to diagnose Lexi’s Beauty was suffering from peritonitis despite being called out to inspect her on three occasions prior to her going to hospital.

Sanderson stated photos showing overgrown and cracked hooves were not his horses, and that a BHA vet had said the horses “looked fine for their age” when shown pictures the former trainer said were taken two days before they were seized.

Davison disputed whether the photos were taken on that date and said it was not possible to make “any meaningful veterinary assessment” from them.

Sanderson responded: “Give over woman! [Pride Of The Oaks] was my pride and joy and now [the RSPCA] have shot her. You are lying, you are a joke. She was the horse who made me the money to come to this farm and they have taken her and shot her, bastards.”

Sanderson, who completed 80 hours of community service, said he has been through “mental torture” since the RSPCA raid, and added: “I've had my punishment and I want to start again. It's been a strain on my marriage and my kids don't want to know me. It's destroyed a good family.” 

The panel is set to deliver its penalty for a breach of rule (J) 26 on Tuesday, with the entry point being a one-year disqualification with a range of six months to ten years.

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