Flockton Grey
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Flockton Grey was the British racehorse at the centre of one of the largest
betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three ele ...
scandals to hit British horseracing. The affair remains the best-known case of a corrupt trainer and owner using a ringer to race in place of another horse. Because of the use of the ringer, Flockton Grey did not actually run in the race for which he became most famous.


Background

Flockton Grey was an undistinguished
gelding A gelding (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɡɛldɪŋ/) is a castration, castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. The term is also used with certain other animals and livestock, such as domesticated Camelidae, camels. By compa ...
, by Dragonara Palace out of Misippus, a mare who later produced the dual Cheltenham Festival winner Montelado. He was sold for 900
guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
as a foal and for 1,700 guineas as a yearling. On the latter occasion he was bought by Ken Richardson, who sent the gelding into training with Stephen Wiles in Yorkshire.


Race

Flockton Grey was entered into his first race for two-year-olds on 29 March 1982 at
Leicester Racecourse Leicester Racecourse is a horse racing course in Oadby, Leicestershire, about three miles south of Leicester city centre. History of horse racing in Leicester The earliest evidence suggests that racing took place at Abbey Meadow, Leicester ...
. As a debutant from an unsuccessful yard (Stephen Wiles had failed to train a winner in two years), the horse was priced at 10-1. The perpetrators of the scam, Richardson and Wiles, saw an opportunity to make a profit and backed their horse with £20,000, spreading their money around several different betting shops to avoid detection. They then arranged for a three-year-old horse, Good Hand, formerly owned by Richardson, to run in place of Flockton Grey. According to the official
weight for age {{use dmy dates, date=October 2022 Weight for Age (WFA) is a term in thoroughbred horse racing which is one of the conditions for a race. History The principle of WFA was developed by Henry John Rous, Admiral Rous, a handicapper with the English ...
scale, a three-year-old at that time of year ought to have carried 47 pounds more than a two-year-old so that Good Hand, meeting his younger opponents at level weights, had a huge advantage. Good Hand was too strong for the competition and won by twenty lengths.


Investigation

The margin of victory caused immediate suspicion, and
bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...
s refused to pay out. A police investigation followed. Official race photographs revealed the winner had teeth too developed to be a two-year-old's. Records of the course
veterinarian A veterinarian (vet) or veterinary surgeon is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal r ...
disclosed that the winner had a conspicuous scar on its foreleg. Investigators traced Flockton Grey to one of Wiles' yards, determining his identity by blood tests, but found no scar. The deceit uncovered, Richardson was charged with conspiracy to defraud. In June 1984, he was convicted, fined £20,000 with £25,000 in costs, and given a suspended nine-month prison sentence. Following his conviction, the
Jockey Club The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree Racecourse, Aintree, Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom ...
"warned off" Richardson for an unprecedented period of 25 years. Wiles received a similar ban from racing. Jockey
Kevin Darley Kevin Darley (born 5 August 1960, in Penn, Wolverhampton) is a retired jockey, and a co-president of the Jockeys' Association of Great Britain. He was British flat racing Champion Apprentice in 1978 with 70 wins and Champion Jockey in 2000 wi ...
was exonerated of any knowledge of the switch, and it was noted that a rider with inside knowledge could easily have held his horse back, minimising the winning margin and preventing any suspicion.


Later developments

Richardson would later resurface as the chairman of Bridlington Town Football Club, and later the self-styled "benefactor" of
Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...
; Bridlington Town went bankrupt during his stewardship, with fans of the club accusing Richardson of gross financial mismanagement. Similar accusations were made during his tenure at Doncaster. The tumultuous period in the club's history only ended in 1999, when Richardson was convicted of attempted arson for his role in hiring three associates to burn down Doncaster's ground to collect insurance money. He was jailed for four years and ordered to pay £75,000 in costs. During the investigations and trials which followed the scandal, Flockton Grey remained in police custody, and was only "released" in 1986: he never competed in a race. He lived to the age of 28, spending his last twenty years at the stable of Mary Dick near
Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located south of Doncaster, south-east of Sheffield and north of Nottingham. Located close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbys ...
. On his death from a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...
in 2008, Dick described him as "a gem, my favourite horse".


References

{{reflist Horse racing in Great Britain 1980 racehorse births 2008 racehorse deaths Sports betting scandals Thoroughbred family 19-b Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom