A former jockey has been disqualified for 10 years over his role in an illegal betting scheme in which a punter spent £1.25 million betting on losers. The details emerged when Lewis German, 25, who has ridden 218 winners up until he was last active in Australia in September 2023, appeared before the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Tuesday.
The inquiry heard that a professional punter, Noah Brash, had placed 89 lay bets totalling nearly £1.25m on German’s mounts, netting a profit of £127,000, over a four month period in 2022.
German, who admitted three charges against him, was also found to have not reported a previous approach from another professional punter who offered him £2,500 not to ride a horse on its merits. The jockey declined the offer.
He also failed to disclose he had opened two betting accounts while the most serious offence was engaging in conduct prejudicial to the image of horse racing.
According to Racing.com, tribunal chair Judge John Bowman said: “We are of the view that the appropriate penalty for this offence is a disqualification for a period of 10 years.”
Brash also received a ten year disqualification at a hearing in December
Adrian Anderson, representing the local stewards, said the case struck “at the heart of the image and integrity of the racing industry” for which a 20 year ban was appropriate but after German’s guilty pleas and other matters asked for a 15 year sentence.
German told the tribunal: “Obviously, I am here today to plead my guilt. I feel that penalties that the stewards are pushing for are, in my opinion, ridiculous.
“I feel that as an apprentice jockey, it’s the first part of your career and it’s a learning curve. Everyone makes mistakes.
“I feel that Mr Brash had manipulated certain people extremely well to the point where I think that the stewards can’t even see it.
“I have never profited from this whole scheme as they call it and none of the bets were actually mine so at the end off the day, I can’t see how 15 years for Charge 4 is even relevant when people are getting three weeks for the same thing pretty much if people open their eyes. But that’s my opinion.
“I am not here to tell a sad story. I am here to apologise to the racing community and to everyone who trusted in me. I feel like I let them down.
“I have not received any money. I believed there was going to be money. I was told that I would be paid at the start but I was probably gullible at the time.”
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