Pub fights, tattoos and a Premier League footballer: the five most shocking details to emerge during the Hillsin hearing

Over the course of four days in September, evidence was heard relating to the running and riding of Hillsin at Worcester on July 5, 2023. Alongside the headlines, there was other startling information that emerged during the course of the disciplinary panel hearing. Here, we pick out the most startling elements of the case, which resulted in Dylan Kitts and John Higgins being found to have deliberately stopped Hillsin from winning at Worcester in 2023, though trainer Chris Honour has been cleared from having any role in the conspiracy. 

Kitts 'puts Hillsin behind him' with posterior tattoo

Following his ride on Hillsin on July 5, 2023, Dylan Kitts was suspended pending the outcome of the BHA’s investigation. 

During the hearing, it emerged Kitts went on holiday “somewhere hot and sunny” on July 10, according to BHA counsel Louis Weston, and proceeded to have the word ‘Hillsin’ tattooed on his bottom.

This was put to Kitts by Weston as showing a lack of concern for his actions at Worcester, while the former rider replied that it was “a young, naive coping mechanism – in my head it was to put it [the race] behind me”.

Bar brawl breaks out after Hillsin teasing

Dylan Kitts irreparably fell out with a friend following a pub fight brought about by teasing related to the Hillsin case in the aftermath of a pool game.

Dylan Kitts: was involved in a pub fightCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Kitts said he had defeated his friend, a member of stable staff in Lambourn, who then mocked him about Hillsin. Kitts said: “From nowhere he said, ‘Chris Honour’s just laughing at you, you’re an idiot’ and just kept on with all these things. He continued to say the public was laughing at me and it came to blows and got quite out of hand."

The friend, who was interviewed as part of the BHA investigation, declined to appear as a witness in front of the disciplinary panel.

Presenter knew Kitts had stopped Hillsin after the race

Mick Fitzgerald said that Dylan Kitts confessed to stopping Hillsin to him during a phone call on the evening of the race.

Fitzgerald, the Grand National-winning jockey-turned-presenter, was Kitts’s jockey coach and said in a written statement read aloud by Weston: “I asked Mr Kitts what happened and what was going on. Mr Kitts was quiet and all I remember him saying was he was told to give it a quiet ride.”

Kitts confirmed to Weston that a quiet ride meant a stopping ride and that he had confided in Fitzgerald as he was a “person of trust who could point me in the correct direction”.

Kitts alleges he was groomed

Dylan Kitts accused John Higgins, the associate of Hillsin’s registered owner Alan Clegg, of grooming him which led to the stopping ride being given to the horse at Worcester.

Kitts said he had been encouraged to speak with Higgins by Claire Harris when she trained Hillsin, telling the rider that he was “involved” with the horse despite not being his registered owner.

“He used to ring me about any rides I had,” Kitts said. “I let him have too much involvement in my life. We used to talk through the races. 

“Being young and an impressionable person I thought he was taking me under his wing and giving me advice. Looking back, it was a goad to lure me into his circle.”

Premier League footballer used as channel for payments to Kitts

John Higgins used his son-in-law, professional footballer Ashley Barnes, to make payments to Dylan Kitts between April and July 2023.

Kitts received £100 from Higgins, via Barnes, after riding Hillsin to finish third at Exeter on April 21, 2023 which netted Higgins and Barnes £5,000 from a winning bet. 

Kitts received a further payment of £150 after the horse’s next race, with it ostensibly being to replace his whip which he had lost during that contest.

Barnes, who is on the BHA exclusion list for not providing phone records during the Hillsin investigation, was not a party to the case.

Read these next:

Dylan Kitts and John Higgins found to have deliberately stopped Hillsin, but Chris Honour cleared from having any role in the conspiracy 

Dylan Kitts suffers from anxiety and was 'naive and desperate for opportunities', says family member as Hillsin hearing concludes 

Hillsin’s alleged conspirators alarmed that rider’s performance had ‘let the cat out of the bag’ 

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