When Kieren Fallon's horse Ballinger Ridge was passed dramatically (some would say suspiciously) by Rye in the closing stages of a race at Lingfield Park in 2004, a number of individuals made a lot of money. It also sparked a costly, lengthy, high-profile investigation into race fixing which has singularly failed to move us any closer to a resolution.
The case was thrown out in December last year and it looks like we'll never know what actually happened at Lingfield but thanks to an internal review by the police and another commissioned by the British Horseracing Authority there's more than enough blame to go around, for that at least. According to the police review, the investigation was hampered by a failure to communicate effectively with the BHA or properly understand online betting exchanges. However, the real nail in the coffin was 'expert' witness Ray Murrihy, a race steward from Australia who, by his own admission, had insufficient knowledge of British racing to be credible.
Incredibly the police have stopped short of a full mea culpa. Commander Patrick Rice, who led the review stated, with a straight face, "I am pleased to say that we got a lot of things right." Predictably this has caused consternation amongst some of the horseracing professionals caught up in the case, Darren Williams, one of the jockeys charged alongside Fallon has been the most vocal, "Someone should have the balls to come out and say 'We got it wrong', but no one will. It makes me sick."
The police have wasted a huge amount of money and time succeeding only in making future investigations harder; the BHA have been robbed of either a vindication of horse racing's credibility or an opportunity to send a message to corrupt elements, though most importantly of all jockeys and fans have had to deal with yet another vague cloud of suspicion being cast over their sport. Horse racing and money are always going to go together therefore, probably more than any sport, racing needs a robust system in place to investigate corruption, not the shambles orchestrated here.
This is the sort of situation where nobody wins - except of course the gangsters and cheats who will always seek to remove the element of chance.