‘I said he was a pig’ – trainer faces big ban for breaking betting rules three-and-a-half years after race

EX-TRAINER Luke McJannet was found guilty of passing on inside information and breaching betting rules at a disciplinary hearing yesterday.

Formerly based in Newmarket, McJannet, 34, told two of his associates his horse Act Of Magic was a “f***ing pig” ahead of his run at Leicester in June 2020.

Trainer Luke McJannet faces a length ban from the sport

Immediately after a telephone conversation with McJannet, Ivor Collier, who worked for the trainer at the time, laid the horse on Betfair to the tune of £600.

The former trainer denied that he had explicitly told Collier to lay the horse, saying: “I didn’t say he had no chance, I told him he was a f***ing pig.”

He added that Collier responded: “I may as well f***ing lay him, then.”

The gelding ended up finishing a well-beaten seventh of ten in a mile handicap, having drifted out to 7-1 from 9-2 shortly before the off.

The BHA’s lawyer Louis Weston repeatedly accused McJannet of lying during his cross-examination, but the independent judicial panel felt the BHA did not provide sufficient evidence to prove he himself had laid the horse, or asked others to lay it for him.

However, they found “on the balance of probabilities” that he was guilty of passing on inside information and ‘encouraging another person’ to place a bet, while Collier admitted laying a runner from a stable at which he was employed.

Both men are expected to get lengthy bans at their penalty hearing on January 23.

Top trainer Alice Haynes, who was McJannet’s assistant trainer in 2020, also gave evidence and was accused of “having an axe to grind” by McJannet’s legal team, though there was no suggestion she was involved in the betting scandal.

The three-day hearing began in November but had been delayed for nearly two months as McJannet was unwell after developing pneumonia.

McJannet saddled 22 winners over five seasons, but he last sent out a runner in June 2021.