Owners could be in breach of rules if using cash-out for bets on their own horse

Owners who use the cash-out facility offered by various bookmakers risk putting themselves in breach of the rules, it has emerged in the wake of last week's Near Kettering hearing.

While the BHA is currently constrained as to what it can say by the possibility of an appeal in that case, it indicated that the issue was on its radar as a potential integrity threat.

The two owners of Near Kettering were banned for a year after admitting they placed lay bets against their horse as part of a betting strategy. While they were net backers of Near Kettering, they used lay bets to prop up his pre-race odds and then laid him again at short odds in-running as a means of recovering their stake if he lost.