UK News 02-09-2004 16 Arrested in Race Fix Conspiracy who: Jockey Kieren Fallon what: Arrested in swoop on 16 over race fixing allegations where: NEWMARKET when: Yesterday snippet: "British horseracing is once again facing accusations of corruption," says The Times, "after police arrested the champion jockey Kieren Fallon and more than a dozen other suspects as part of a high-profile investigation into allegations of race fixing." 130 police officers raided 19 addresses in Suffolk, Yorkshire and Hertfordshire. Fallon, "a millionaire Irishman widely held as the leading jockey of his generation" was questioned for five hours by City of London Police at a station near the jockey`s Suffolk home, says The Independent. The conspirators are suspected of fixing more than 80 races over the past two years. Jockeys Darren Williams and Fergal Lynch were also questioned along with trainer Karl Burke and owner Miles Rodgers. Punters staked more than £100million on the races in question, according to The Sun`s Claude Duval. Transactions made via online betting exchanges, in particular Betfair, which allow gamblers to back horses to lose as well as win, are under particular scrutiny. "The seriousness now of it is that we have six-times champion jockey Kieren Fallon involved," says racing pundit John McCririck, quoted in The Scotsman. "It`s as though we had Michael Schumacher accused of fixing Formula One or David Beckham missing penalties deliberately. It is an absolute nightmare for the reputation of the sport." [... more]

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