Jockey Club digs in heels over exchanges

The Hong Kong Jockey Club has reiterated its opposition to betting exchanges after the police swoop in England that saw the arrest of champion rider Kieren Fallon.

And their position has been echoed in Melbourne by Australian Racing Board chairman Andrew Ramsden, who rubbished high-profile exchange Betfair's claims it was part of the solution, not the problem, in the latest scandal to rock British racing.

Most of the 16 people arrested, including Fallon, were released from police custody on Thursday, and the Jockey Club's executive director of racing, Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, wished to offer no official comment on the case.

'It is ongoing, we are not aware of the specifics of the particular case and it is not our business,' he began. 'However, I would say that even allegations of this type confirm our view of exchange betting that allows anyone to be the bookmaker and bet on a horse to lose.'

The Jockey Club was the first major racing authority to speak out against exchange betting in early 2003, with Engelbrecht-Bresges then describing it as 'the biggest threat to horse racing's integrity - and it is a worldwide threat'.

Since then, their stance has been adopted by other jurisdictions, including Australian authorities who have joined the fight to stop exchanges operating there, and Engelbrecht-Bresges said yesterday he still regarded the issue as 'a fundamental one'.

'Handling issues of integrity in racing becomes almost impossible when the ordinary guy can bet on a horse to lose in any race. If you look at the allegations in this case, they talk about 80 races and, who knows, this may be the tip of the iceberg,' Engelbrecht-Bresges said.