Naughty Oscar!

jinnyj

jinnyj

Senior Jockey
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Jan 8, 2004
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Taken from the RP site and I have to say I was suprised reading it:

Jockey Oscar Urbina charged by BHA

JOCKEY Oscar Urbina has been charged by the BHA for allegedly misleading the stewards at Wolverhampton over the running and riding of Golden Surprice.
Urbina, now riding in Spain, has been charged in the wake of Golden Surprice trailing in 11th of the 12 runners in the 'Stay At The Wolverhampton Holiday Inn' Claiming Stakes at Wolverhampton on December 4 2007, having been sent off the 6-5 favourite.
The BHA charged Urbina for allegedly breaching rules 221B (i), 220 (iii), 220 (i) and 220 (viii) after reporting no reason for the performance of Golden Surprice, despite the BHA believing he "had been previously notified that the colt had not been in training prior to the race and had not been prepared for the race".


Urbina could face a fine of up to £10,000 for each offence or a disqualification of up to three years.


Also charged by the BHA are Golden Surprice's trainer Aldo Locatelli and six other individuals.
 
I don't there's anything in the rules against pantomime horses.

(I presume Simon Claisse was 'bringing up the rear'.)
 
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If they banned every jockey for a dodgy looking ride we wouldn't have any racing.
 
ItalianStallion said:
If they banned every jockey for a dodgy looking ride we wouldn't have any racing.
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Without wishing to prejudge anything, but it appears that the BHA have more evidence to this case than a 'dodgy looking ride'. In fact watching it, I'm not sure the BHA are unhappy with the ride, moreso that the horse was sent to the racecourse in a condition that suggested it was unfit to race.
 
David good point but im sure theres horses racing today,tomorow next week even that havent had sufficient work out at home so where does this put the BHA? in a difficult situation something they have come acustomed to.
 
davidjohnson said:
Without wishing to prejudge anything, but it appears that the BHA have more evidence to this case than a 'dodgy looking ride'. In fact watching it, I'm not sure the BHA are unhappy with the ride, moreso that the horse was sent to the racecourse in a condition that suggested it was unfit to race.
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I had horses that ran in my name that went to the races in a similar condition courtesy of another trainer whose yard I took over. I did keep the BHA informed at all times and it was the reason I decided to leave the setup as I felt that it should not be going on and if it did then it wasn't happening in my name. I take immense pride in my horses that when they get to the races, they run on merit and look their best.
 
Interesting, jinnyj. Did the information you passed on to the BHA ever reach the public domain?

(This isn't intended as a sly dig in any way BTW; if it didn't it was hardly your fault.)
 
In what way? You mean did they publish it for all and sundry to read about? Did they hell - unless I could provide them with info that the same guy was laying horses they weren't interested! And to try to get this out of me they sent their Security guy (ex CID) down from Scotland to interview me. Sadly I wasn't privy to that sort of info so it was a wasted trip in their eyes. I felt that running horses straight from a field with no form of exercise may have been taken as worth investitgating?
 
Going back to the subject, I maybe being blonde but I don't get it.

Are they charging Oscar for knowing the horse was not fit, or not broken in or something.

As personally I can't see how that is the riders problem, he was booked to ride the horse, he wasn't training it was he.
 
There is an article on the RP that explains the situation in a little more detail, I believe the problem the BHA has is that they believe Urbina was in cahoots with this Italian trainer and fully knew what was going on, even helping him to carry out his plan. The horse was also laid heavily on BF which appears to be what alerted their suspicions. From the RP :

THE BHA on Monday charged the connections of an Italian-trained horse, including the jockey Oscar Urbina, following an investigation into the defeat of Golden Surprice, a horse it is alleged had not been exercised for two weeks before a race it was heavily laid to lose.

The husband and wife behind owning companyCheavaux de Prestige, four unlicensed individuals, plus the trainer Aldo Locatelli have also been charged following an investigation into the unusual betting patterns of the claiming race in which Golden Surprice finished 11th of 12 when sent off the 6-5favourite in December 2007.
A fortnight earlier the five-year-old, winner of 13 races in Italy, landed a gamble in a seller at the same track, after which his connections had to go to 11,500gns to retain him.

The BHA announced 11 charges after the conclusion of a security department investigation that is believed to have established that Golden Surprice spent the two weeks between races in a Newmarket yard and was not trained during that period.

Among the charges faced by Sabrina Spuntarelli and Pierre Carniti, directors of Cheavaux de Prestige, Niccolo Rugani, Carlo Spuntarelli, Allesandro Carli and Gaetano Ravelli are conspiring with others to commit a corrupt or fraudulent practice by using inside information - that Golden Surprice had neither been in training nor in a yard since its win on November 19, 2007 - to lay the horse on Betfair.

Urbina, who was riding the horse for the first time, is charged with failing to make any report to the stewards on the performance of the horse, failing to pass on that he knew the horse had not been in training and aiding and abetting Rugani to mislead the officials.

Locatelli is charged with failing to authorise another person to represent him on the racecourse when he was unable to attend.
Urbina moved back to his native Spain late last year after accepting a contract to ride for an owner with 100 horses and could not be contacted on Monday.

The penalties for any breach range from a fine to disqualification, which the BHA said it would expect overseas authorities to apply in their jurisdictions in the event of any guilty verdict at a disciplinary hearing.

Chief executive Nic Coward revealed at Monday's British horseracing conferencethat the BHA had set a target of completing the majority of disciplinary investigations within nine months, and that all should be brought to charges within a year.

He added: "This will be challenging, but in the important balance, investigations must be concluded more swiftly than they have been in the past."
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Possible connection to a spate of gambled ex-Italian horses in sellers in the last couple of years?

Seemed to have won about 8-10 races in Italy each, clearly those backing them knew the value of the form.
 
All very strange, and I find it especially odd that Oscar who had a good sinecure at Fanshawe's yard would get mixed up in something so dodgy - for what? Since the horse started such a short-priced favourite I wonder hwo much it was laid for. But given what transpired if he did know what was going down, he shoudl have refused to ride the horse - and certainly helped the Stewards

I find it hard to believe that the Spansih authorities would uphold any ban on 'one of their own' however, if he is found guilty here. Ed Creighton famously had to leave Mijas because he'd been Champion Trainer there once too often, so the Spanish authorities started making life very difficult for him :cool:
 
Headstrong said:
All very strange, and I find it especially odd that Oscar who had a good sinecure at Fanshawe's yard would get mixed up in something so dodgy -1; for what? 2; Since the horse started such a short-priced favourite I wonder hwo much it was laid for.3; But given what transpired if he did know what was going down, he shoudl have refused to ride the horse - and certainly helped the Stewards

I find it hard to believe that the Spansih authorities would uphold any ban on 'one of their own' however, if he is found guilty here. Ed Creighton famously had to leave Mijas because he'd been Champion Trainer there once too often, so the Spanish authorities started making life very difficult for him :cool:
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1; Money

2; A hell of a lot. You could easily lay a even money shot at off time for 10 or 20k without it making a huge difference to the market. Also more in the opening 2 - 3f of a race if it is ridden handily.

3; Yes that's what he should have done, but if he was in on the act why would he ???

To suggest the Spanish authorities would not ban him over race fixing if found guilty is completely ridiculous Sara. If he is banned it would be accepted worldwide. Otherwise they wouldn't have a case in future of turning down warned off jockeys, trainers or owners who wanted to ply their over in Spain, as they had not banned one jockey previously.

I don't know Oscar, but I would have been in the same boat as Gamala in thinking he was just pretty shite. Never considered him as bent. But one things for sure, he ain't been charged on a few words, they are bound to have some compelling evidence.

Also I would expect him to protest his innocence Sara, wouldn't you if you were ever caught up in something like this, you're hardly gonna come out and say yep it was me I done it and made a packet out of it !!!!
 
I've lived in Spain! - and in France, and in Italy. Rules are there to be bent, in the Med - which is why they do so well under certain arrangements. I don't think my observation is ridiculous in the least... But we shall see what transpires - it will depend on what evidence is produced no doubt.
 
I too have lived in Spain - when it comes to an international ban, there's the square root of feck all the Spanish racing authorities can do about ignoring it unless they don't want to be recognised and accepted in the racing world as living within the rules. There is absolutely no question of them ignoring a international ban and the thought that they would is preposterous.
 
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