Fixing allegations untrue and irresponsible, says Club

The Jockey Club yesterday vigorously denied race-fixing had been the focus of its internal investigations, or that there was any suggestion the practice was happening.

The Club did, however, reveal it had been interviewing licensed persons 'for some time' as part of a continuing behind-the-scenes inquiry into certain unspecified aspects of racing, and that was why it ruled Douglas Whyte's proposed press conference on Tuesday - designed to extinguish what he called a 'whispering campaign' against him - as inappropriate.

Executive director of racing Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges angrily dismissed as 'irresponsible' one particular media report, which linked the Jockey Club's ongoing investigation with alleged race-fixing concerns.

'It really is absolute rubbish and totally irresponsible,' Engelbrecht-Bresges said.

He said he would characterise the investigation as 'a discussion about the perceptions of some issues'.

'If there are rumours about whether some jockeys transfer to other jockeys' mounts which they cannot take, or whether some jockeys are playing a large role in the programming of horses, then these are things that need to be looked at,' he said.

'But to describe that as race fixing, or anything like it, could not be further from the truth. Race fixing is the most damaging allegation that anyone can make about racing - in its real form, race fixing is a very complex structural situation, which describes the collusion of a group of people in predetermining the outcome of a race.'