Trainer Jamie Osborne offered his apologies to racing after he was fined £4,000 for bringing the sport into disrepute at a Jockey Club inquiry yesterday (Thursday 12 December).
The former jockey, who now runs a successful stable in Lambourn, was punished for remarks he made in an episodeof the BBC expose programme Kenyon Confronts, called ‘They Fix Races, Don’t They?’
Osborne was secretly filmed by an undercover reporter, posing as a prospective owner when he said he would be prepared to “cheat” and use an in-house jockey to that end.
His remarks and those of fellow trainer Ferdy Murphy, who was also fined £4,000 at a previous inquiry, caused an outcry and widespread bad publicity for racing.
After the 40-minute hearing Osborne said in a statement: “I would like to place on record my most sincere apologies to the industry for the part I have unwittingly played in the recent detrimental publicity that racing has suffered.”
