BHA withdraws disciplinary charges against MArtin Harley

Jockey Martin Harley has been informed he is no longer required to attend a British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel hearing to consider a potential a breach of the rules following a ride at Chelmsford last month.

The panel was due to decide whether Harley had breached the rule which governs whether all reasonable and permissible measures are taken to ensure a horse runs on its merits, after his mount Rebel Lightning had finished fifth of 13 in a seven-furlong handicap, beaten six lengths behind Curzon Line.

The BHA said the potential breach had been detected by its internal post-race review processes and subsequently reviewed by the disciplinary officer.

But further internal discussion, together with the preliminary response of Harley, identified that immediately following the race, the rider, at the same time as reporting being denied a clear run, also reported that Rebel Lightning took a wrong step coming off the bend and because of this he waited for his mount to recover.

Upon reviewing this additional information, the BHA said the disciplinary officer was satisfied the rider does not have a case to answer.

BHA spokesman Robin Mounsey said: "Reviewing races after the day is an important part of the BHA's regulatory function. It is an area that we are looking to become more active in as we strive to do more to protect the sport's integrity.

"On the basis of the ride itself and the evidence considered by the team at head office we remain of the view that it was correct to take a further look at this ride, and the charges that ensued were based on this evidence. However, it later became clear that there were two elements of the rider's report to BHA officials on the day. One element had not been recorded.

"Had this information been known we would not have pressed charges, and once the full details were established, the BHA immediately took the decision not to proceed with the charge against Martin Harley.

"We apologise to Martin that the charges were brought in this manner."

Professional Jockeys Association chief executive Paul Struthers said Harley was "very upset at having his name dragged through the mud".

Struthers said in a statement: "Whilst we are obviously pleased that the charges have been withdrawn, Martin remains very disappointed and angry that they were issued in the first place. Because of this it has been reported that Martin was charged with 'non-trying' when that wasn't what he was charged with and when that wasn't the case. Martin is very upset about having his name dragged through the mud.

"It is very frustrating that the BHA did not see the switching of leads when reviewing the race on a big screen in HD. It is equally frustrating that they did not speak to their employees on duty at Chelmsford that night to ask them why they had not held an enquiry themselves. Those two factors would have ensured Martin would have successfully defended the charge because he hadn't broken any Rules of Racing.

"It should not have required us to go to the expense of instructing Rory Mac Neice, who asked a number of questions raising serious concerns in response to those charges, questions that have resulted in the charges now been withdrawn.

"Had the BHA been more thorough they'd have realised, as they now have, that Martin had reported at scale that as well as being denied a clear run he also briefly felt the horse might have gone wrong, a matter that should have been published on the night. The stewards would have confirmed no enquiry was held because that report was borne out by the video where you can clearly see the horse switch leads and Martin look down.

"Stewards make decisions under significant time pressure and everyone accepts that there will be occasions when they don't get it right and their decisions get overturned on appeal. Those time pressures don't exist when a case is reopened and therefore there is no excuse for getting it wrong, when doing so could cause significant damage to someone's career.

"It is to the BHA's credit that they have quickly acknowledged they were wrong to issue charges, have withdrawn them and issued a qualified apology to Martin, but it was all so avoidable in the first place."