BRITAIN:Anyone who regularly bet on favourites to win a horse race would have at least a two-thirds chance of losing, the Kieren Fallon "race-fixing" trial heard at the Old Bailey.
Legal adviser to the online betting exchange Betfair, David O'Reilly, agreed with George Carter-Stephenson, counsel for the Derry jockey Fergal Lynch, that betting on horses to lose rather than win was nowadays "big business" for exchanges.
The Betfair legal counsel spoke of the betting phenomenon of "false favourites" when "a horse is believed to be favourite but for legitimate reasons is unable to win". He agreed with Mr Carter-Stephenson that probably only a third of favourites ever win races.
"So the position is that the majority of favourites in the UK are likely to lose?" he asked. Mr O'Reilly said that was so.
He agreed with counsel's assertion that on those figures, if one was to bet on favourites to win every time, then one would be likely to lose at least 63 per cent of the time. Betting on so-called "false favourites" to lose would stand a much greater chance of success, said Mr Carter-Stephenson. Mr O'Reilly agreed.
The court heard how it was not uncommon for betting exchange account holders to risk a huge liability for a small win. Mr O'Reilly told Peter Kelson QC - defence counsel for the alleged ring leader of the conspiracy Miles Rodgers - that it was not uncommon for people to stake huge sums for small returns.
One Betfair customer risked a liability of £19,980 to win just £20 while another risked owing £1,361 to win just £30.
In cross-examination by Kieren Fallon's defence counsel, John Kelsey-Fry QC, he agreed that bookmakers used "positive" and "negative" terms to indicate those horses they fancied (positive) or did not fancy (negative) to win races. The jury had earlier in the trial heard evidence that Mr Fallon sent racing tips via text messages to his friends with the letter "n" appended.
The Crown maintained that this was code for "not trying" or that a race would be thrown.
Mr Kelsey-Fry, a racehorse owner, told the court that, on the contrary, it was a common daily code used in the racing industry.
Mr Fallon (42), originally from Co Clare and living in Tipperary, fellow jockeys Fergal Lynch (29), of Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire, and Darren Williams (29), of Leyburn, North Yorkshire, all deny conspiring to throw 27 horse races between 2002 and 2004.