03 March 2006

Crypton capers continue

More fun and games in ol' Blighty as another saddle-sitter bites the dust in the ongoing saga over the City of London police probe into race fixing in the UK:

"Police have arrested another jockey as part of their investigations into allegations of race-fixing. The jockey was arrested in Cumbria on Thursday morning on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud, a statement from the City of London Police confirmed."

The bobbies have been looking rather busy:
"Twenty-seven people remain on police bail to July 3 in connection with the inquiry... The police inquiry has been looking at more than 80 races and more than 130 officers have worked on the case. At least 19 addresses have been raided."

The Police probe – codenamed Operation Crypton – is Britain’s largest ever horse racing corruption investigation. It has been hanging over racing for two years but any decision on charges will be delayed until at least the summer.
The operation arose out of betting irregularities noticed by Betfair, which has both supporters and detractors of the service claiming the sting supports their position. While Ireland Online accentuates the negative:

"It is claimed that the system opens up the possibility that an unscrupulous jockey on a highly fancied mount could be paid to lose and a gambler 'laying' the horse on Betfair would win."

Others show the fact that the arrests arose out of monitoring Betfair players only proves the systems transparency.

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