A FATHER and son have been banned for a combined 13 YEARS in a shocking race-fixing storm.
The duo have been disqualified from racing after ‘literally begging’ a jockey not to win a race.
Royston Cooper has been banned for seven years while his son Royston Barney, who was officially listed as the owner of the horse, has been kicked out for six years.
Both were found guilty last month of instructing jockey Ray Dawson not to win on their runner Enough Already at Yarmouth in 2022.
Dawson won the mile race by a head and reported to stewards that he was allegedly threatened by the pair after.
Cooper, according to a report of the hearing in the Racing Post, demanded Dawson pay him a ‘six-figure’ sum – the amount he claimed the win had cost him.
A disciplinary panel handed down the massive ban, which the dad and son now plan to appeal.
Panel chair James O’Mahony said: “This is an offence against the integrity of horse racing.
“It’s an offence against all right-thinking people involved in the sport, from kings and princes to the punter having his acca on a Saturday morning.
“In all but name, Royston Cooper was as much an owner of the horse as Royston Barney as far as this case is concerned. You both tried to corrupt the sport.
“The one light of hope is that Henry Spiller (the trainer of the horse) and Ray Dawson were not having it.
“They said ‘no’ and the horse ran on its merits.”
A second charge against Cooper over the same horse for a race at Brighton nine days earlier had already been dismissed.
The panel were not satisfied the Brighton incident equated to an instruction to stop the horse
Cooper and Barney claimed in their defence that the jockey and trainer had spoken negatively of the horse to the owners so that they wouldn’t get on.
An allegation that Dawson stopped and laid (betting against them to win) horses was ‘completely and utterly rejected’ by the panel.
However, Dawson was banned for two months, suspended for nine, for failing to report to stewards the alleged instruction to stop the horse from winning.
While Spiller, who quit training in February, was fined £3,000 and given a three-month ban, suspended for a year.
