Racehorse owner happy to lose £8MILLION winnings after it emerges trainer doped runners
A TOP racehorse owner is said he is OK with losing £8MILLION – if it means no more doping in racing.
Gary West says he will not object if his horse Maximum Security is stripped of his win in the 2020 Saudi Cup – the world’s richest race.
Maximum Security was trained by Jason Servis, the disgraced US trainer who last week pleaded guilty to doping horses.
An investigation into the 2020 running of the highly controversial Saudi Cup is still ongoing.
But American West says he does not mind sacrificing the £8m first-place prize for the good of the sport.
He said: “We believe in the justice system and have patiently waited for the legal prosecution to take its course.
“Now that Jason Servis has entered a guilty plea, we want to make it clear that if the Saudi Cup purse is redistributed we would support that decision.
“Hopefully, that action will prevent future conduct of this nature.
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“We believe the decision to take the Saudi Cup purse from Maximum Security and redistribute it is the correct one.”
Servis was arrested around a month after Maximum Security – who was also first past the post in the Kentucky Derby before being disqualified – won the £16.2m Saudi Cup.
The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia froze the £8m winner’s prize after Servis was arrested.
In his plea, Servis told the court that Maximum Security had been administered SGF-1000, a banned substance that he had falsely told owners was ‘acupuncture and chiropractic’.
The disgraced trainer faces up to four years in prison and will be sentenced in May.
If the prize money is redistributed then runner-up Midnight Bisou will get an extra £5.2m to take the total to £8m – and be declared winner.
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