Jockeys suspended for gambling addiction

Jockey who couldn't resist a punt gambles career away

USUALLY the punter ends up with an addiction to gambling.

A small percentage of those ploughing billions of dollars into the wagering and gaming markets are diagnosed with a problem.

Thoroughbred racing must have many of them, but a jockey?

The rules forbid them from betting, but it was revealed yesterday that the Melbourne Cup-winning rider Blake Shinn has a gambling addiction.

Its seriousness led the young jockey to phone his partner, Sydney's glamour rider Kathy O'Hara, on race days.

On one occasion O'Hara received a call in the Goulburn jockeys room. Shinn was not riding at the meeting but after their conversation he placed $4000 on O'Hara's short-priced favourite Glove. It won.

''There is a perception you are getting information from the jockeys' room,'' the chief steward of Racing NSW, Ray Murrihy, told Shinn at yesterday's betting inquiry. ''It's undesirable.''

Shinn had pointed out many times that O'Hara was the only jockey in the female riders' room. ''What is she going to do, talk to the walls?'' Shinn told the inquiry. ''She gets lonely in there, uses me as a mentor.''

The stunning revelations emerged yesterday when racing's police suspended Shinn from racing for 18 months.

Fellow rider Peter Robl received a 12-month disqualification.

Jockeys are allowed to bet on races in New Zealand but not in Australia. But the rule did not stop Shinn and to a lesser degree his good friend Robl.

In a six-week wagering spree Shinn, who won the Melbourne Cup two years ago on the Bart Cummings-trained Viewed, and Robl turned over $300,000 by betting on races, some of which they rode in. They also backed horses they were riding.

On one occasion Shinn, who can earn $350,000 annually, committed one of racing's greatest sins: he backed a horse to beat the mount he was riding in a race at Royal Randwick. He lost $2500 on that occasion.

On another occasion Shinn bet $1300 on his mount Venus's Choice, which paid $11.20 when it won at Gosford.

The pair shared the winnings of $10,000 bet on Aussie Crawl when it won a race at Muswellbrook. Neither rode in the race and the horse paid $1.60.

But the spree came to an end when Racing NSW stewards ran their list of licensed jockeys through the computerised accounts of betting houses.

The inquiry began with Shinn and Robl being interviewed at the Canterbury race meeting on September 29.

It was also revealed that Robl's wife Elaine and Shinn's mother Carol were party to the betting. Both had TAB accounts which were used by the jockeys.

Shinn, 23, admitted to the Racing NSW stewards' inquiry that the Robls knew little of his betting habits.

He was betting on race meetings everywhere.

Shinn was lured to Sydney from his Victorian base by the champion trainer Gai Waterhouse before he parted company with her last year.

Robl - whose contract to ride for Patinack Farm, owned by the mining tyro Nathan Tinkler, ended on Wednesday - cannot attend any racecourse in Australia while disqualified.

Both intend to appeal.

''Don't think racing can presume punters are fools and are going to fully support racing when this impacts on the integrity of racing,'' Mr Murrihy said yesterday. ''We strongly suggest this goes to the integrity of racing. The perception of racing is just as important as what the reality is.

''Betting of this scale we have not seen before.''

Shinn and Robl both left yesterday's inquiry without commenting.

Elaine Robl and Carol Shinn were also fined $7500 each by stewards for being a party to the jockeys breaching the Australian Rules of Racing.