Ashley Barnes’ father-in-law conspired with jockey to ‘stop’ horse from winning

A two-year investigation into the running and riding of Hillsin in a race at Worcester in July 2023 concluded on Friday when Dylan Kitts, Hillsin’s jockey, and John Higgins, an associate of the gelding’s owner, were found to have conspired to “stop” the five-year-old from winning.

Chris Honour, Hillsin’s trainer, was cleared of involvement in the conspiracy but found to have misled the local stewards at a subsequent inquiry, while Higgins’s son-in-law, the Premier League footballer, Ashley Barnes, was issued with an exclusion order by the British Horseracing Authority last year after refusing to co-operate with its investigation.

Hillsin was the early 2-1 favourite for a handicap hurdle at Worcester on 5 July 2023 but proved to be friendless in the pre-race betting and drifted to a starting price of 11-1. Hillsin travelled smoothly from the off and still clearly had plenty of running left when he jumped the last within a length of the lead, but Kitts remained motionless all the way to the line without asking his mount to quicken, before eventually finishing third, a length-and-a-quarter behind the winner.

Kitts told a recent disciplinary hearing into the case that he had deliberately prevented Hillsin from winning, due to the “perception of a threat” from Higgins if he did not. He has not ridden in public since the Worcester race and has left the sport. Higgins, like Barnes, refused to co-operate with the investigation and declined to appear at the hearing, on the grounds of ill-health.

Despite Kitts’s suggestion that he had been threatened, the panel said in its initial finding on Friday that the jockey’s “life or personal safety was not threatened in the event that he failed to comply with the instructions which he received from John Higgins”, adding that he “had ample opportunity to refuse to comply with Mr Higgins’ instructions, had he been minded to do so.”

Honour was found to have misled the local stewards after the racing, telling them that Kitts had told him that Hillsin had been “hanging” in the closing stages. In the panel’s view, “while it was a lie which could have been construed as the lie of a co-conspirator… it was far more likely to be attributable to a desire to defend a young jockey who had been found wanting in how he should have run his race.”

The penalties for Kitts and Higgins will be decided at a later date.

The British Horseracing Authority said in statement that it was “pleased” by the independent panel’s decision, adding: “The actions of those involved in this case are fundamentally incompatible with British racing’s values and are an affront to the many thousands of people, up and down the country, who dedicate their lives to this sport and to competing fairly.

“The outcome of this hearing demonstrates that our sport will not accept this sort of behaviour, and we will always do what we can to uphold our values and ensure everybody who loves racing can be confident in its integrity.”

Electrics has spark for Gold Cup sprint

Jim Goldie registered the first Group One success of his 30-year training career when American Affair took the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, but the Lanarkshire trainer might well draw even greater satisfaction from a first success in the Ayr Gold Cup on the final day of the track’s Western meeting on Saturday.

Goldie has turned his stable into a northern powerhouse over the last four seasons, posting a new record for prize money won in every campaign since 2022, and has already moved into seven figures for the first time this year.

He has had little to celebrate in Ayr’s historic sprint handicap, however, with the long-time stable stalwart, Hawkeyethenoo, failing to make even the first 10 home in five attempts from 2010 to 2014, while American Affair, racing off a mark of 97, was only 16th after setting off as 11-4 favourite 12 months ago.

Goldie relies on Jordan Electrics (3.35), fifth home as the stable second-string last season, in this year’s renewal, and while it is, as ever, an intensely competitive handicap, the nine-year-old could prove to be the horse to end the trainer’s long wait for a win.

It is, admittedly, an unusually advanced age for a potential Ayr Gold Cup winner but Jordan Electrics is an unusual sprinter who notched no fewer than seven handicap wins as an eight-year-old last year.

There are valid excuses for a couple of lesser efforts this year and Jordan Electrics, who is priced up at around 20-1, was just over half a length behind Northern Ticker, the likely favourite, at York last month.

He is 5lb better off with that rival on Saturday and also has Goldie’s excellent apprentice, Lauren Young, who was aboard last weekend’s Portland Handicap winner at Doncaster, taking off a potentially invaluable 7lb.

Ayr 1.15 Mr King had no luck in running last time and is weighted to go close with a better passage.

Newbury 1.30 Montassib drops to five furlongs for the first time on his seasonal debut and Cover Up could could exploit any rustiness in last year’s Group One Sprint Cup winner.

Ayr 1.50 The lightly raced Almeric should find further improvement for the step up to 10 furlongs.

Newbury 2.05 A slight drop in trip could be just what Majestic Warrior needs after a solid run in the Ebor last time.

Ayr 2.25 Fivethousandtoone is 4lb below his last winning mark on turf and can build on a promising run last weekend.

Newbury 2.40 Owen Burrows’s three-year-old Night Step maintained his progression in defeat last month and remains fairly weighted on a 2lb higher mark.

Ayr 3.00 Catching The Moon showed a fine turn of foot at Beverley last month and looks ready for this step up in grade.

Newbury 3.15 Jim Boyle’s Into The Sky was an 80-1 shot on debut but powered nearly eight lengths clear of his field and the bare form was backed up by an excellent time.