Big Ragu

[EarlySpeed]

Wed, June 25, 2003


Trainer: I helped fix races

He tells Sun he was in on 400 rigged heats

By ALAN CAIRNS, TORONTO SUN




A horse trainer who claimed to police he did cocaine with five Toronto officers and made cops money in fixed horse races told The Toronto Sun in an exclusive interview that he took part in 400 fixed races. The man said the races were fixed through payoffs to grooms and trainers to hold their horses back, while the chosen winners would secretly be given cocaine before the race to enhance their performance.

"By the time they reached the three-quarters mark they would feel they didn't have legs ... wings," the horse trainer said.

He said the cocaine was put into tongue ties that keep horses tongues from going over the bit during the heat of the race. The drug acted as a performance enhancer.

"When it goes in, the horse licks the tie ... they are constantly ingesting the drug," he said.

The 31-year-old trainer is the star prosecution witness in the case against 14-year veteran and drug cop Robert Kelly. The trainer, who has a criminal record and knows key underworld figures, is lying low while he reassures mobsters he did not fink anyone out.

Police officers on the case have told The Toronto Sun they believe his concerns are legitimate and ask that his name not be used to ensure his safety.

"It was between me and Rob. I had no beef with the others," he said. "If Rob Kelly didn't threaten me I wouldn't be here."

Kelly, 36, a well-liked and dedicated cop with an exemplary police record, pleaded guilty to two counts of cocaine possession on Monday. He has pleaded not guilty to two trafficking counts and they will be withdrawn.

SUSPENDED WITH PAY

The trainer has said in police statements that he did cocaine with five different officers. He said in the statements that Kelly and a former drug-squad officer provided the drugs.

Kelly has been suspended with pay since his arrest 19 months ago. The other cops are still on the job. Toronto Police brass have confirmed they face neither criminal nor Police Services Act charges. He said about half a dozen cops on the drug squad and another elite unit placed bets on 20 fixed races.

"I made thousands of dollars for the cops. They knew it was fixed," he said.

An agreed statement of facts submitted to Justice Ian Cowan in Brampton Monday said the agent provided Kelly with "tips on horse races ... The agent claimed to have 'inside information' that certain horse races were likely fixed and Kelly was aware that the tips were the result of 'inside information' the agent had received."

"The way it looks, he was supplying me coke for my tips, but I never, ever said he supplied coke for my tips ... but that's the way it played out."

The trainer was introduced to Kelly by another undercover drug cop three years ago. He had set up bit dealers for the drug cop and in return got protection from other cops and criminals. "(The officer) knew of my connection to the track," he said.

'FIVE OR SIX BETS'

After the officer moved to another unit, some cops from that unit "really pressured" him to place bets. The officer told him Kelly was "solid ... a buddy of his."

"I did five or six bets with Rob Kelly," he said. And the pair did cocaine as many times, he said.

On one occasion, he and Kelly were doing cocaine in Kelly's car when undercover Peel cops interrupted them.

"He showed his badge and said 'I'm on the job too.'"

Kelly, a congenial man who is described as a proud and brave cop who became addicted to cocaine on the job, tried three times to leave the drug squad but was denied.

Kelly once told the horse trainer: "I trust you more than I trust anyone in my own unit."

Kelly will be sentenced in the fall. His lawyer Peter Brauti has reserved four days for sentencing evidence he says will show Kelly's sterling service.

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Here are questions that I want answers to--

Who is this trainer?
Tbreds or jugheads?
Do you think this guy should be hung by his nutsack?
Who do you like in the 5th today?

 

[BigRagu]

ES.. Interesting article, I would believe that it is probably Standardbred, not alot of young trainers like that at Woodbine for Thoroughbreds although my trainer Kevin Attard is young (and it's not him..lol) Will see if I can find anything out, I gotta drop something off to the stewards today and will inquire. Yeah hang him out to dry, I doubt he is even allowed on the grounds anymore, whoever he is and as far as the racing card today, I will be at Woodbine tonite. I have a syndicate and we may be claiming a horse in the first race today.

Later

Ragu

 

[EarlySpeed]

BR--

The jugheads are notorously crooked everywhere--would hate to think the slime has penetrated to the t breds but California had a huge scandal a while back where wiseguys were in on thousands of racse!!!

 

[EarlySpeed]

Friday, December 12, 1997

COLUMN: Jay Richards
Convicted fixer Sklar says he'll talk





Convicted horse race fixer Richard Sklar, who has admitted fixing over 1,000 thoroughbred, quarter horse, Arabian and harness races at virtually every California track between 1983-95, said he will soon be going public with the entire story.
He said he would give detailed accounts of many of the fixed races and identify nearly 100 jockeys and harness drivers whom he said were his partners in the widespread scandal.
Sklar, 44, is looking to strike a deal with the highest bidder for the rights to his story, and said the TV tabloid program Hard Copy had expressed considerable interest in it, asking for the right of first refusal if and when other offers were made.
Along with jockey Richard Pfau, Sklar was convicted earlier of fixing a race at Los Alamitos in September 1995.
Pfau was sentenced to three years' probation and had his license suspended indefinitely.
On Monday, Sklar was sentenced to six months in federal prison beginning Jan. 21, fined $5,000, given three years' probation and 100 hours of community service.
He also must pay $6,600 in restitution to owners whose horses he paid to have held back in the race, the amount the owners would have received if their horses had won.
Sklar said two of the biggest players of what he called "my team" were the late Ron Hansen, a Northern California jockey who died under mysterious circumstances four years ago, and a high roller at Caesars Palace whom Sklar declined to identify.
He offered as a textbook example of his illegal trade a race that was run on Feb. 3, 1989, at Golden Gate Fields.
Many horse players will recall that race because of its unique finish that was photographed in newspapers and replayed on TV news programs nationwide.
In that race, jockey Nate Hubbard, riding the runner-up, Sweetwater Oak, clipped the heels of the eventual winner, Current Lady, in the final sixteenth-mile.
Sweetwater Lady stumbled badly and nearly fell, jerking Hubbard out of the stirrup irons. In desperation, the falling jockey managed to throw his arms around the horse's neck and was holding on for dear life as the horse completed the course with Hubbard dangling alongside.
"That race was fixed," Sklar said, although neither Hubbard nor winning jockey Tom Chapman were aware of it.
"We never told them, we just bet on them. There was no need for them to know," Sklar said.
"The key to it was Ronnie (Hansen) going dead (holding back his mount) on the even-money favorite (Boss' Bid) in a seven-horse race.
"With him and one other rider out (who was also paid to hold his mount), it was a piece of cake to box Chapman, Hubbard and one other horse."
Sklar said he contacted his man at Caesars Palace, "a high roller who was allowed to bet as much as he wanted.
"We bet Hubbard's horse separately, 10-and-10 (thousand to win and place), most of it at Caesars. We also made an $8,000 quinella box (a $24,000 investment).
"Hubbard's horse ran second and paid $6.20 to place, so we made $11,000 profit on the win and place. The (house) quinella paid $14.85. We cleared another $35,200 on that (deducting the $24,000 bet from the $59,200 payoff)," he said.
How much did Hansen profit?
"Ronnie never took his money up front, like a lot of other riders did. He always wanted me to bet for him instead," Sklar said.
"On that race, as I recall, I bet a thousand to win for him on Hubbard's horse, which lost, and bet a $200 quinella box, which returned him $1,485."
The $1,485 Hansen allegedly was paid was nearly three times the amount ($522) Chapman received for the winning jockey's share of the purse.
"Hansen was a character. I loved the guy. He had so many great one-liners. We made so much money together, he used to tell me, `When I win, I low-five. When I lose, I high-five,' " Sklar said.
The California Horse Racing Board has downplayed the race-fixing claims, to which Sklar replied:
"You tell the CHRB, `Fasten your seat belts. What you're going to find out will make your heads spin.' "

 

[BigRagu]

ES..How come I never run into any of these guys, I wouldn't mind picking up some gauranteed bucks

... I am going to try and find out who the guy is up here, should have an answer this evening.

Later

Ragu

 

[DickyW]

Had a friend who new a harness trainer, he gave him a call one day and told him his horses were mysteriously going to get better. Turns Out he had some nice go go juice (snake venom)and his barn was blowing up the tote board. definetly my most profitable summer betting ponies

 

[EarlySpeed]

BR and Dicky

You guys old enough to remember the Dan Beckon travesty???
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On July 2, 1987, well known Canadian horse jockey Dan Beckon's dead body was found at a farm in Bolton, Ontario. The police ruled the matter as a suicide. The family and their lawyers called in William C. Deer of Dallas, Texas, known (arguably) to be the best Investigator in North America. The family maintained Beckon had been murdered.

On March 22, 1988, William Deer (right) and Corpa's President, Kevin Bousquet (left) and a team of other investigators reenacted Beckon's death.

The police investigation maintained that Beckon shot himself in the head with a Winchester .22 rifle. The spent .22 casing was measured metres away from the body. The investigative team reenacted the scene several times, both as a murder and a suicide. When reenacted as a suicide, the casings fell no further than one metre. However, when reenacted as a murder the casings landed approximately the same distance as measured by police. The conclusion of the video taped reenactment gave every indication th at Beckon could not possibly have shot himself, as the casings were found too far from the body at the crime scene.
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Moral of Story--mixing it up with wise guys and crooked gees gees can be hazardous to your health

 

[EarlySpeed]

How quickly we forget
--------------------------
A jockey bites the dust
Chris Antley was one of the greatest and best known jockeys in the world. By December 2000, he had 3,480 career wins, including two Kentucky Derby victories, and a child on the way.

But the 34-year-old Antley was also a recovering drug addict. He was arrested twice in 2000, and his houseguest, Timothy Tyler, a man he’d met in rehab and often fought with over money, told police Antley had threatened to kill his own wife.

On December 2, 2000, police found Antley dead in his California apartment; his bedroom door was kicked in from the outside, and blood covered the walls. His death was ruled a homicide, and Tyler was questioned. Then things got weird.

In their investigation, police found that prior to his death, Antley had deteriorated into a fog of alcohol and drugs. He hadn’t spoken to his wife, living in New York, in days and had become a complete shut-in.

Then, just as his friends and family were learning the depths to which he’d sunk, the police changed the official cause of death to “accidental.” Tyler was a free man.

“This is an absolute cover-up,” said jockey Vladimir Cerin. “Somebody [murdered] Chris.”

Cathy Park, Antley’s closest friend and the woman who found his body, told police she saw Tyler wielding a crowbar outside Antley’s house around the time of his death. But police refused to reopen the homicide investigation.

The final autopsy revealed substantial wounds on Antley’s neck, head, and arms. But on January 11, 2001, his death was ruled the result of an overdose.

Just hours later Antley’s first child, Violet Grace, was born.

 

[BigRagu]

Early... remember Dan very well, he was a great guy and I would see and sometimes talk to him after the races over at O'tooles on Rexdale.. He liked to grab a bit there after the races. When I heard what had happened I suspected foul play right away. This is the part of the sport and for whats its worth any sport that people don't always see.

Later

Ragu

P.S. Look for Slot Machine Jean to possibly get claimed in the first race today at Woodbine

If she does, she will be a new addition to Dare 2 Dream Racing Stables

 

[joeybagadonuts]

Big Ragu
I assume that you are the same Big Ragu from ATB so i have a question. How is the horse you guys bought doing??? I wanted to get in on that but i waited too long. Hope it wins you some $.

 

[BigRagu]

Joey, that first horse we claimed was returned as a paperwork error nulified the claim but we picked up a horse today in the 6th race called CANADIAN EDITION which looks pretty good, should run for us in about two weeks time, by the way what is your ATB handle?

 

[joeybagadonuts]

BR,
I havent ever posted over at ATB, although i lurked for a long time there.(mostly checking out your picks) Good luck with the horse, i hope it makes you guys some $.