TONY CULHANE AND DEAN MERNAGH CHARGED

Published: Friday 29 Dec 2006

TWO MORE JOCKEYS AND TWO UNLICENSED PEOPLE CHARGED IN CONNECTION WITH 37 RACES

Following a Security Department investigation licensed jockeys Tony Culhane and Dean Mernagh and non-licensed individuals Dave Watkins (Culhane’s father-in-law) and Gary Lyons (Culhane’s brother-in-law) have been informed that they face various charges in relation to 37 races that took place between July 2003 and April 2004.

The relevant races are:

18.07.03 Hamilton SCORCH Tony Culhane

19.07.03 Ripon DONTSTOPTHEMUSIC Tony Culhane

17.08.03 Pontefract OBRIGADO Tony Culhane

17.08.03 Pontefract TASS HEEL Tony Culhane

17.08.03 Pontefract PRINCE OF GOLD Tony Culhane

25.08.03 Ripon BROUGHTON SPIRIT Tony Culhane / Dean Mernagh

01.09.03 Hamilton CANNON FIRE Tony Culhane

02.09.03 Southwell TAFFY DANCER Tony Culhane

06.09.03 W’hampton PRINCE OF GOLD Tony Culhane

09.09.03 Catterick SMITH N ALLAN OILS Tony Culhane

15.09.03 Redcar SUMMER MAGIC Dean Mernagh

17.09.03 Beverley SIMONS WOOD Dean Mernagh

17.09.03 Beverley PARTNERS IN JAZZ Dean Mernagh

18.09.03 Ayr GROOMER Tony Culhane

18.09.03 Ayr NIGHTS CROSS Tony Culhane

19.09.03 Ayr ALTITUDE DANCER Dean Mernagh

03.10.03 Lingfield BYGONE DAYS Tony Culhane

07.10.03 Catterick MOYANNA* Tony Culhane / Dean Mernagh

18.10.03 Catterick MISKINA* Tony Culhane

28.10.03 Redcar CHASE THE RAINBOW Tony Culhane

13.11.03 Lingfield AMEYRAH Tony Culhane

25.11.03 Southwell BARZAK Tony Culhane

29.11.03 Lingfield ZAGALA Tony Culhane

29.11.03 W’hampton REPEAT Tony Culhane

09.12.03 Southwell HEADLAND Tony Culhane

19.12.03 Southwell HEADLAND* Tony Culhane

02.01.04 W’hampton SHARP HAT Tony Culhane

05.01.04 Southwell QUEEN OF NIGHT* Tony Culhane / Dean Mernagh

05.01.04 Southwell CLASSIC VISION Tony Culhane

06.01.04 Southwell SOAKED Tony Culhane

07.01.04 Lingfield PREGNANT PAUSE Tony Culhane

13.01.04 Southwell POLAR KINGDOM* Tony Culhane / Dean Mernagh

15.01.04 Southwell MAGIC MAMMAS TOO Tony Culhane / Dean Mernagh

05.02.04 Southwell SHARP HAT Tony Culhane

05.02.04 Southwell LAMPOS Tony Culhane

05.02.04 Southwell MARABAR Tony Culhane

13.02.04 W’hampton POLAR KINGDOM Tony Culhane / Dean Mernagh

*those horses marked with an asterisk were backed to win – the others were laid to lose.

Tony Culhane

Rule 243 by communicating to Gary Lyons for material reward, gift, favour or benefit in kind information that was not publicly available or provided for in Appendix N to the Rules about the relevant races above;

and/or

Rule 220(i) by aiding or abetting the commission of a corrupt and/or fraudulent practice, by Gary Lyons and/or David Watkins, (namely directly or indirectly laying or, in the case of five races backing the horses listed with the benefit of Inside Information relating to its prospects in the race – in breach of Rule 201(v)) by communicating to Gary Lyons Inside Information relating to the horse’s prospects knowing that, or being reckless as to whether, or contemplating as a real possibility that (i) such information was Inside Information and (ii) Gary Lyons would use or enable someone else to use it for such a corrupt and/or fraudulent practice.

Also

Rule 220(viii) by endeavouring by an overt act to mislead one or more Officials or alternatively, Rule 220(vii)(b) by providing inaccurate information.

Dean Mernagh

Rule 243 by communicating to Gary Lyons or Tony Culhane for material reward, gift, favour or benefit in kind information that was not publicly available or provided for in Appendix N to the Rules about the relevant horses listed.

and/or

Rule 220(i) by aiding or abetting the commission of a corrupt and/or fraudulent practice, by Gary Lyons and/or David Watkins, (namely directly or indirectly laying the Named Horse with the benefit of Inside Information relating to its prospects in the race – in breach of Rule 201(v)) by communicating to Gary Lyons and/or Tony Culhane Inside Information relating to the horse’s prospects knowing that, or being reckless as to whether, or contemplating as a real possibility that (i) such information was Inside Information and (ii) Gary Lyons would use or enable someone else to use it for such a corrupt and/or fraudulent practice

Also

Rule 220(viii) by endeavouring by an overt act to mislead one or more Officials or alternatively, Rule 220(vii)(b) by providing inaccurate information

Dave Watkins

The Disciplinary Panel will be asked to consider whether Dave Watkins is liable for exclusion pursuant to Rules 2(v) and/or 201(v) and 220(i) in that he

(a) used a Betdaq and/or Betfair account in his name to lay or back, the relevant horses and/or authorised Gary Lyons to do the same;

(b) knowing that, or being reckless as to whether, or contemplating as a real possibility that such conduct would assist (as it did) in the commission by Gary Lyons of the corrupt or fraudulent practice of betting for or against the horse with the benefit of an illicit advantage over other gamblers in the form of information about the horse’s prospects in the race in question which was inside information, that is to say, information provided by the jockey due to ride the horse in his capacity as such, which was not publicly available and the disclosure of which by the jockey(s) was not otherwise authorised by the Rules of Racing, and thereby aided and abetted Gary Lyons commission of such a corrupt or fraudulent practice.

and/or;

that he has unreasonably failed or refused to cooperate with enquiries made by investigators in relation to his role in and knowledge of the betting on the above races using his Betfair and Betdaq accounts

Gary Lyons

The Disciplinary Panel will be asked to consider whether Gary Lyons is liable to exclusion pursuant to Rule 2(v), 220(ix) or 201(v) on one or other of the following bases:

contrary to Rule 220(ix), on and/or before the date of that race, when the horse named against that race was due to run he had dealings with the licensed jockey Tony Culhane and/or Dean Mernagh which caused Tony Culhane and/or Dean Mernagh to be in breach of Rule 243; or

alternatively;

contrary to Rule 201(v), he committed a corrupt or fraudulent practice in relation to that race by laying or backing, the Named Horse using information he had received from Tony Culhane and/or Dean Mernagh relating to the prospects of the Named Horse which was or included information that was (i) obtained from Tony Culhane as the jockey due to ride the Named Horse, in his capacity as such which was (ii) not publicly available or authorised for such disclosure by the Rules (Inside Information), and knowing that (i) and (ii) were the case, or being reckless as to whether this was so?

and/or;

that he mislead one or more Officials or alternatively is in breach of Rule 220(vii)(b) by providing inaccurate information.

A date for the substantive hearing will be set in due course. Due to the timetable in place for other enquiries it is unlikely to be before April 2007.

29th December 2007

Notes for Editors:

1. The relevant Rules in question are:

201 (v) – commission of a corrupt practice

243 – communicating information for reward

220 (i) – aiding or abetting a breach of the Rules

220 (viii) – misleading an Official

220 (ix) – causing jockeys to be in breach of Rules 243-7