Bets jockey banned 3 years

ADAM Hyeronimus’ riding career is in tatters after the Group 1-winning jockey was disqualified for three years for betting-related offences.

Racing NSW stewards announced yesterday morning Hyeronimus has been found guilty of placing 30 bets on thoroughbred races, including horses he rode, over a period of nearly four years.

The jockey’s cousin, registered stablehand Blake Paine, has also been disqualified for two years and four months for his involvement in the scandal.

Hyeronimus, 30, has the right of appeal but his worldwide riding ban is already the longest issued to a high-profile jockey for illegal betting in the modern era.

Blake Shinn was given a 12month ban for betting in 2010 while Damien Oliver received an eight-month penalty for a similar offence in 2012.

After those controversial cases, Racing Australia introduced minimum two-year penalties for any jockey found guilty of betting.

James Mcdonald was hit with an 18-month ban in 2016, his penalty reduced after stewards took into account his cooperation and guilty plea.

The long-running Hyeronimus stewards inquiry had its genesis during a relatively routine investigation into the jockey’s ride on runner-up Wolfe at Randwick on Anzac Day last year, after a significant betting drift associated with Wolfe.

Hyeronimus’s mobile phone was seized and banking records reviewed as part of the Wolfe inquiry and this was when stewards discovered a goldmine of evidence into the jockey’s betting activities.

Stewards were able to establish a pattern where bets where placed for Hyeronimus by his cousin, Paine.

Hyeronimus would invariably deposit a sum of money into Paine’s bank account before Paine transferred the same amount into a separate bank account.