JOCKEY Dylan Kitts has admitted ‘stopping’ a horse from winning a race at Worcester after ‘threats’ from the father-in-law of a Premier League star.
The conditional jockey had his licence suspended after finishing third on Hillsin in July 2023, prompting a two-year BHA probe.
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Kitts, trainer Chris Honour and John Higgins, the father-in-law or Burnley striker Ashley Barnes, have been charged with committing and conspiring to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice by the BHA. Honour and Higgins have denied any wrongdoing.
The BHA’s legal rep Louis Weston said: “Mr Kitts accepted the horse was given a stopping ride but went on to say he did so out of concern there was a threat by Mr Higgins, and confirmation for that was given by Chris Honour.”
The three-person independent judiciary panel were played replays of the race and heard recordings of the stewards’ inquiry from the day, when Kitts said he had ridden to instructions and Honour said he was, overall, satisfied with the ride.
Hillsin was backed into 2-1 favouritism for a two-and-a-half mile handicap hurdle the night before the race but drifted right out to 11-1 before the off.
Kitts, 24, sat motionless in the saddle for much of the race and ended up finishing a close third, beaten just over a length and apparently full of running.
On the day he said the horse had hung and made a respiratory noise, but he later admitted to the BHA that he had prevented the horse from winning.
Kitts was interviewed by the BHA three months after the race, when Weston said he admitted he’d “not just done it incompetently or badly, but that he had done it by direction and direction of threat in at least the case of Mr Higgins, but confirmed by Mr Honour.”
The panel also heard how Higgins and Barnes had made money punting on Hillsin at Exeter when the horse finished third under Kitts on April 21 when it was still trained by Claire Harris, Barnes winning to the tune of £5,000. The horse was moved to Honour’s stable the following month.
Weston said: “Mr Higgins said to Mr Honour that if things go well then more horses could come his way, flashing under his nose his wealthy son-in-law. “
Through Barnes, Higgins paid sums of £100 and £150 to Kitts on two separate occasions before the race at Worcester on July 5 and he was in regular contact with the jockey.
Higgins and Honour, it was revealed, had spoken 70 times on the phone in the six weeks leading up the Hillsin’s race, while Honour had 35 conversations on the phone with the horse’s owner, Alan Clegg, an associate of Higgins’ who has not been charged.
The day after the race, Clegg moved Hillsin from Honour’s stable to the yard of Alan Jones.
Barnes was issued with an exclusion order by the BHA last year for failing to cooperate with the investigation but he has not been charged.
Higgins has declined to take any part in proceedings, which are expected to last several days at the BHA’s central London HQ.
The hearing continues.
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