Ralph Beckett: no trainer or jockey should be sponsored by a bookmaker

Ralph Beckett has called for an end to bookmaker sponsorship of racing professionals fearing it only undermines confidence in the integrity of the sport and is at odds with the messages horsemen are given surrounding the use of sensitive information.

Beckett’s plea comes after the controversy surrounding Altior, who drifted heavily in the betting for Saturday’s Grade 2 Unibet Silviniaco Conti Chase, with trainer Nicky Henderson informing his stable sponsor Unibet the horse would not run shortly before the news was made public via his Twitter account. On Wednesday, Altior remained engaged in the race.

Unibet insisted it acted entirely appropriately and had no knowledge of Altior’s condition prior to Henderson calling, but fellow bookmaker Betfair believe the time has come for firms with racing ambassadors to come together and agree a robust code of conduct for how market-sensitive information is disseminated to the public.

Unibet defend role in publication of Altior's setback

Classic-winning trainer Beckett was adamant on Wednesday that bookmakers controlling information from trainers and jockeys sends out the wrong message to punters, and ultimately has a negative impact in terms of encouraging people to bet on the sport.

He said: “In my opinion no trainer or jockey should be sponsored by a bookmaker, full stop. I think it undermines confidence on every level.

“I appreciate why the regulator [the BHA] has allowed it and why people have taken on the sponsorships, but from an integrity point of view the whole thing is compromised. How can you regulate the horsemen satisfactorily if you’re then going to allow them to be sponsored by bookmakers – that’s the bottom line.

“While I understand they are trying to encourage people to bet on the sport, integrity means far more than any opinion given by a horseman and surely that must drive turnover more effectively.”

Britain operates a comparatively open system for commercial agreements between bookmakers and racing professionals. Both parties must inform the BHA of any agreements, with them published on the BHA website, while racing professionals must abide by specific guidelines in terms of how and when they use information that may be market sensitive.

Altior: drifted heavily before Henderson's announcement via his Unibet blogCredit: Mark Cranham

In Japan riders are required to be in jockey quarters the night before racing and forfeit their mobile phones, only receiving them after the action, while in Hong Kong the rules forbid giving information about horses via commercial partners.

Beckett, president of the National Trainers Federation for the central south region, added: “We have to emphasise to everyone around us that they can only say certain things to certain people, yet we can also be sponsored by a bookmaker. How does that work?

"This is just another example that shows we’re regulating ourselves because the BHA are incapable of doing so.”

The BHA stated on Tuesday that agreements between bookmakers and racing professionals are monitored on “an ongoing basis, as well as public perception around these arrangements”, but Barry Orr, Betfair’s head of racing PR, wants more to be done by firms.

The likes of Gordon Elliott, Paul Nicholls and Joseph O’Brien are Betfair ambassadors, and Orr said: “Last year we made a conscious decision not to break any news concerning injuries, or any market-sensitive information, from our ambassadors.

“The procedure we agreed with them is for the ambassador to inform Weatherbys, who send that information out, and then they make the information public themselves before they even get in contact with us. That system works very well for us and we don’t think it’s at all right for us to be breaking that news.

“We think the time is right for other bookmakers to re-evaluate how they approach this as the perception is increasingly negative. We are keen to engage with other bookmakers who have ambassadors to look at drawing up a code of conduct around this to make sure there are no grey areas about how the relationships work.”

Members' Club: Perception of trainers and jockeys being in bookies' pocketsallowed to flourish

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