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Trainer Gary Moore escapes with £750 fine for breaching racecourse Covid-19 protocols during Glorious Goodwood

File photo dated 30-07-2020 of Trainer Gary Moore - PA
File photo dated 30-07-2020 of Trainer Gary Moore - PA

Racehorse trainer Gary Moore escaped with a £750 fine for breaching racecourse Covid-19 protocols during Glorious Goodwood, for which he was marched off the track last week.

In the first disciplinary case brought by the British Horseracing Authority involving coronavirus rules, the regulator had argued for a three-month racecourse exclusion of Moore, who is the father of leading Flat jockey Ryan Moore.

Yet while an independent disciplinary panel found Moore guilty of failing to comply with the Covid-19 requirements, it cleared him of misleading the BHA, describing an exclusion as “inappropriate”, and levied a financial penalty instead.

The outcome of a near two-hour-long hearing, conducted by Zoom, was a setback for the BHA, keen to underline the importance of the protocols which have enabled the resumption of racing without spectators since June 1.

Trainers, jockeys and race-day officials, the sport’s essential workers, have to stick to a designated green zone and not mix with owners, who must stay in their own separate area.

According to the BHA, Moore, one of the most successful dual-purpose trainers in the country, had caused Goodwood staff “repeated problems” last Thursday.

He had watched his runner Junkanoo win the first race from within the wrong part of the stand and had been asked to leave the owners, area two or three times before he was finally escorted off the track at the end of the meeting.

Moore denied deliberately disobeying the restrictions, saying he had been confused. He accused Goodwood’s security of adopting a “heavy-handed” approach. “I do feel very strongly that I was kind of being made an example of on the day,” he said. “They did upset a lot of trainers there.”

A BHA spokesman said that observance of the rules had generally been “exceptional”, but added: “If necessary the sport will not hesitate to take action against those who do not follow the published protocols.”

At the same time, the regulator issued an update which ruled out any imminent easing of restrictions and warned race meetings were likely to continue behind closed doors “for the foreseeable future” because of the fear of a second wave.

Public health authorities have told the BHA that a 14-day quarantine will be considered for all racecourse attendees in the same zone as someone who tests positive for Covid-19. To date there is only one known case of an apprentice jockey testing positive, which has resulted in a small number of people self-isolating.

The BHA said that Public Health England had been reassured that there were tight controls in place on racecourses. “However, if the separation of zones breaks down – for example, because people have moved from the green zone for participants to the owners’ zone, or vice versa, people in both zones may be quarantined.”

This year’s Qipco British Champions Day, which celebrates its 10th anniversary at Ascot on Oct 17, will offer total prize money of £2.5 million, a coronavirus-affected reduction from £4 million in 2019 yet which remains Britain’s richest race day.