Hawick jockey Greg Fairley set to make comeback 14 years on from last race under rules after ban for taking part in betting scam
Hawick jockey Greg Fairley is to make a comeback today, July 7, after a 12-year ban for deliberately losing a race as part of a betting scam described at the time as Britain’s biggest ever.
The 37-year-old, champion British apprentice in 2007, has been cleared to return to the sport by the British Horseracing Authority’s licensing committee after being warned off for a dozen years in 2011 for preventing a horse vying to win and passing on tips for financial reward.
Almost a decade and a half on, Fairley has been granted his licence back, with conditions attached, after having a previous application in May last year rejected despite his suspension expiring in December 2023.
That ban followed Fairley being convicted of preventing the Staffy from obtaining the best possible placing in a race at Wolverhampton in March 2009 and breaching rules by taking part in a conspiracy to pass on inside information involving ten others also handed suspensions ranging from six months to 14 years.
Fairley will make his comeback for trainer Iain Jardine, formerly of Hawick but based at Carrutherstown in Dumfries and Galloway since 2015, on Superior Council in the six-furlong Luxury Breaks at Western House Hotel Handicap at Ayr at 4.05pm, a class-six race offering a top prize of £4,187.
The six-year-old bay gelding is among 17 entries, three of them with fellow Hawick jockeys booked as riders – Rowan Scott on Back Tomorrow for Ewan Whillans’ Hawick yard, Jason Hart on Fallen Soldier for North Yorkshire trainers John and Sean Quinn and Rhys Elliott on Due Respect for Camptown’s Gary Rutherford.
Selkirk trainer Katie Scott has also got an entry lined up, Baby Rover, to be ridden by Joanna Mason.
Fairley, a tree surgeon by trade since his ban and also a work rider for Jardine and at Sandy Thomson’s Kelso yard since being allowed to return to non-racing jobs in the sport in December 2021 after having his disqualification partly lifted.
Thanking racing licensing officials for giving him another chance, Fairley issued a statement saying: “15 years ago, I chose a path that was wrong and paid a justifiably significant price for my poor decisions.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the licensing committee of the BHA for giving me a second chance.
“I would also like to thank Sandy Thomson, Iain Jardine and Charlie and Mark Johnston, who have all been very supportive.”