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Rust apologises for error of judgement
- Updated: December 22, 2016
British Horseracing Authority chief executive Nick Rust on Thursday apologised for what he called “an error of judgement” in using solicitor Matthew Lohn in its disciplinary panels, among them the Jim Best case that led to a rehearing.
Lewes-based trainer Best was last week suspended for six months following a rehearing into the running and riding of two horses in December last year.
He was handed the ban by an independent disciplinary panel after it ruled Best had instructed conditional jockey Paul John to ride Echo Brava and Missile Man other than on their merits, and that they were “stopping rides”.
Best, who denied all of the charges, was originally found in breach at a hearing in February, leading to a four-year disqualification.
But it emerged that Lohn, the chairman of the disciplinary panel at that hearing and several others, was engaged by the BHA on other matters, giving rise to claims of an appearance of bias in favour of the governing body.
At Best’s appeal in May, the guilty verdict and penalty were quashed and a rehearing ordered, with the BHA having conceded that while there was “no suggestion of any actual bias” in the case, the non-disclosure of Lohn’s other work “created an appearance of bias”. The appeal board also said the disciplinary panel’s reasons for its findings “were clearly insufficient to support its decision in this case”.
Rust said: “We apologise for the Matthew Lohn incident. He was given work on a discreet matter in 2013 onwards.
“I made a commitment to do that once the Best case was out of the way. It will be there for all to see in chronological order.
“We made an error of judgement. We made a mistake and have apologised for it.
“I am doing what I can to make sure not only that the system is reasonable and fair but that we clear up all the cases from the Lohn issue.”
In releasing its chronological timetable of events, the BHA said Lohn was known to them “as a qualified doctor and lawyer with …
