MATTHEW HOPKINS, the former apprentice who has been banned from racing for three years following a betting probe, placed nearly 1,000 bets in a year while holding a riding licence, the BHA revealed on Friday.
During the period between January 28, 2013 and February 3, 2014, he placed 978 back bets through his bet365 account and eight back bets and one lay bet on Betfair on December 21, 2012 with them “for small amounts and mostly unsuccessful”.
Despite initially denying betting on horses and being the holder of a bet365 account in an informal interview with the BHA, Hopkins has subsequently admitted his gambling addiction and is seeking help from Racing Welfare.
Hopkins, who relinquished his licence in November after partnering 27 winners, the last 15 of them for Scott Dixon in 2014, was disqualified with immediate effect for breaching the rules governing the backing and laying of horses.
The ex-jockey’s solicitor Mark Edmondson had pleaded for leniency, stressing his client was “still only 21 years old and had been 19 when the breaches started” and that “gambling had become an illness for Mr Hopkins, who at the time lacked guidance, and had found it only too easy to place small bets via his mobile phone”.
After the hearing when the former rider was found in breach of rule (D) 53.2, which has an entry-point ban of 18 months and maximum penalty of ten years, he released a statement through Edmondson indicating that he will apply to the BHA for special dispensation to continue working in racing.
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