An apprentice jockey who was paid $150,000 to deliberately obstruct a race was jailed yesterday for a year.
Ricky Choi Chun-wai, 27, admitted riding his horse, Win Tack, in an irregular manner so it would not finish in the top three during a race at Sha Tin on March 30, 1996.
He was promised $130,000 and given an extra $20,000 afterwards, although it was not made clear in court who paid the money.
Judge Maggie Poon Man-kay rejected a plea that Choi should not go to prison for more than six months.
'It would be unfair, at least in the defendant's eyes, if he received a more severe sentence than Kwok Ting,' defence lawyer Paul Tse Wai-chun told the District Court.
Keith Kwok Ting, a former apprentice jockey, was jailed for six months in December for taking bribes totalling $200,000.