tonkatoy
Well-Known Member
how odd. I ride 16 in 4 hours at the racing stables!!!
Howard Johnson loses his licence
- Thread starter martlin
- Start date
how odd. I ride 16 in 4 hours at the racing stables!!!
Dobiegirl
Well-Known Member
On t*e Mornin* Line a statement was read out from * Jons*on sayin* someone *ad incriminated *im. If its true it s*ows t*at it was common knowled*e on t*e yard and *e was well aware of t*e implications.
As for t*e stable staff losin* t*eir jobs PN is advertisin* on *is website for staff.
As for t*e stable staff losin* t*eir jobs PN is advertisin* on *is website for staff.
EAST KENT
Well-Known Member
Presumably the owner paid the de nerving bill? Or was it just lumped in with the rest of the expenses. Both Wylies were constant visitors to the stables .find it hard to believe that a de nerving op went on without their knowledge.OK,trainer guilty as Hell..BUT under great pressure from very ambitious owners wanting to win,win ,win.
Anyone with half a brain knows that de nerved horses are dodgey ,and `chasing would be like Russian Roulette for the rider and other horses in the race.
Anyone with half a brain knows that de nerved horses are dodgey ,and `chasing would be like Russian Roulette for the rider and other horses in the race.
Dobiegirl
Well-Known Member
EK t*ats w*at Im stru**lin* wit* w*y was Wylie also not c*ared wit* t*e same t*in* and warned off.
EAST KENT
Well-Known Member
Who knows? Could it be money talking..I have no idea on it.
georgie0
Well-Known Member
Baggy breeches, as usual you are the voice of sense! Highly dodgy deeds going on i suspect. Poor staff and poor horses.
Daffodil
Well-Known Member
The vet is recorded as saying he "presumed the horse would be retired" from racing after the de-nerving operation. Striking Article ran 8 times afterwards.
I'm obviously guessing at the procedures here, but I would assume the yard vet either carried out the operation himself or referred the horse to hospital and the operation carried out there. The yard vet must have been aware that the horse was still racing and the implications of that. Even giving the vet the benefit of the doubt the horse should only have run once before his appearance on a racecourse should have been reported to the BHA - not 8 times. Having said that, though, how many people would be brave enough to tell HJ he was running a horse against BHA rules.
And then there's the issue of the steriods.............. Don't tell me he'd been training for quarter of a century and never read the Rule Book.
Also, do the BHA automatically order a PM if a horse breaks a leg racing, as I understand they did here. If not, perhaps they already had their suspicions that something was not right.
Everytime a horse appears at a racecourse I'm assuming it's passport has to be inspected. Looking at my horse's passport, there are pages for vaccinations records, lab health tests, basic health requirements and medicinal treatment. There is no procedure that I can see for recording more invasive and significant treatment - like a de-nerving op, colic op or anything else. This is something the BHA should be looking into.
I'm obviously guessing at the procedures here, but I would assume the yard vet either carried out the operation himself or referred the horse to hospital and the operation carried out there. The yard vet must have been aware that the horse was still racing and the implications of that. Even giving the vet the benefit of the doubt the horse should only have run once before his appearance on a racecourse should have been reported to the BHA - not 8 times. Having said that, though, how many people would be brave enough to tell HJ he was running a horse against BHA rules.
And then there's the issue of the steriods.............. Don't tell me he'd been training for quarter of a century and never read the Rule Book.
Also, do the BHA automatically order a PM if a horse breaks a leg racing, as I understand they did here. If not, perhaps they already had their suspicions that something was not right.
Everytime a horse appears at a racecourse I'm assuming it's passport has to be inspected. Looking at my horse's passport, there are pages for vaccinations records, lab health tests, basic health requirements and medicinal treatment. There is no procedure that I can see for recording more invasive and significant treatment - like a de-nerving op, colic op or anything else. This is something the BHA should be looking into.
Last edited:
Baggybreeches
Well-Known Member
Caledonia
Well-Known Member
Shush you, I have a reputation as a mentalist to live up to!
You and me both apparently.
Daffodil - it is not commonplace at most courses, but it is at Musselburgh.
Fizzbw
New User
BHA are saying that they did the PM on the basis of a tip off by telephone.
HJ says "someone is out to get him" - seeing how many people he has treated badly and pissed off over the years, I don't think he is ever going to narrow it down to who is out to get him!!
Owner, vet and farrier should be culpable as well - imo to do a denerving for a corn is outrageous - if their farrier couldn't solve the problem, or the vet, then I would be looking for a farrier or vet who could.
HJ says "someone is out to get him" - seeing how many people he has treated badly and pissed off over the years, I don't think he is ever going to narrow it down to who is out to get him!!
Owner, vet and farrier should be culpable as well - imo to do a denerving for a corn is outrageous - if their farrier couldn't solve the problem, or the vet, then I would be looking for a farrier or vet who could.
LouandBee
Well-Known Member
Is Howard Johnson the one that was on crime watch last year?
I felt sorry for him then - not bl**dy now! Poor horse or should I say horses.
I felt sorry for him then - not bl**dy now! Poor horse or should I say horses.
Smitty
Well-Known Member
GW had horses with other trainers didn't he - JonJo etc. Were those ever tested do we know?
Has he moved to PN as a 'whitewash' attempt I wonder. Anyway, fortunately for the horses and jockeys, I expect PN has read the rule book
Has he moved to PN as a 'whitewash' attempt I wonder. Anyway, fortunately for the horses and jockeys, I expect PN has read the rule book
JenHunt
Well-Known Member
I quite agree...
BUT
you could argue that at least the lameness was treated. Yes HJ broke the rules by running the horse, but he had taken action to prevent the horse suffering. Yet he gets a longer sentence than that horrible little scrote Jamie Gray!....
How the ***** is that justice?!
I'm not in anyway whatsoever condoning what has gone on here, but I just thought it was an interesting point.
Dobiegirl
Well-Known Member
The point is this horse was being raced and had no feeling in that foot, John Francombe likened it to driving a car without any steering. The horse could have fallen at anytime and caused injury or death to its rider.
Graham Wylie is selling a lot of his horses and the rest are being sent to PN and Willie Mullins in Ireland both champion trainers in their own country.
Graham Wylie is selling a lot of his horses and the rest are being sent to PN and Willie Mullins in Ireland both champion trainers in their own country.
Merry Crisis
Well-Known Member
I am sad that a little prick like HJ has brought racing, single handedly down to the depths of comparing him to Jamie Gray. But I tend to agree.
AMH
Well-Known Member
I read the whole of the BHA's judgement on this and found it to be harsher than I expected, but always fair. I was afraid that there might have been some attempt to hush this up to avoid adverse publicity for the industry and was pleasantly surprised.
For the record, it is interesting that the vet involved in the original advice re the denerving is no longer a senior partner at the practice in question. No mention is made of charges against him - I assume it's possible he's retired. However, the vet involved in the steroid issue is still there and was accompanied by legal council to the BHA hearing pending inquiries by the RCVS. To suggest that a horse administered steroids between races was not 'in training' at the time gives us an idea of the arrogance of Mr Johnson.
I'd like to make a correction to some posts on here too - the vet says that he 'accepted that in general terms he had considered that the gelding would have been raced again'. So it was never the senior vet's understanding that the horse would be retired.
For HJ to claim he didn't know the rules is one thing, and makes him look a fool. But for him, and Mr Wylie, to defend the decision to race a horse with compromised sensation in one of its feet, endangering stable staff and jockeys both riding the animal and riding with it, is a disgrace. Racing has enough unwarranted and ill-informed bad press without being attacked from 'within'.
I would also like to say that I feel the comparisons with James Gray are unhelpful and insulting to HJ's staff, who have never been called into question at any point and deserve our sympathy. This is not a general neglect issue - I agree that there is a question about Mr Johnson's empathy with animals in his care, but I'm sure his staff loved their horses and I expect that whoever 'did' Striking Article on a daily basis mourned his passing long after either Mr Johnson or Mr Wylie.
For the record, it is interesting that the vet involved in the original advice re the denerving is no longer a senior partner at the practice in question. No mention is made of charges against him - I assume it's possible he's retired. However, the vet involved in the steroid issue is still there and was accompanied by legal council to the BHA hearing pending inquiries by the RCVS. To suggest that a horse administered steroids between races was not 'in training' at the time gives us an idea of the arrogance of Mr Johnson.
I'd like to make a correction to some posts on here too - the vet says that he 'accepted that in general terms he had considered that the gelding would have been raced again'. So it was never the senior vet's understanding that the horse would be retired.
For HJ to claim he didn't know the rules is one thing, and makes him look a fool. But for him, and Mr Wylie, to defend the decision to race a horse with compromised sensation in one of its feet, endangering stable staff and jockeys both riding the animal and riding with it, is a disgrace. Racing has enough unwarranted and ill-informed bad press without being attacked from 'within'.
I would also like to say that I feel the comparisons with James Gray are unhelpful and insulting to HJ's staff, who have never been called into question at any point and deserve our sympathy. This is not a general neglect issue - I agree that there is a question about Mr Johnson's empathy with animals in his care, but I'm sure his staff loved their horses and I expect that whoever 'did' Striking Article on a daily basis mourned his passing long after either Mr Johnson or Mr Wylie.
Last edited:
JenHunt
Well-Known Member
AMH - if you read what I said properly you'll see that I was in no way comparing HJ to JG - I was merely illustrating that the law is an ass and that actually, I thought HJ's penalty was quite severe when you consider that handed to someone as horrid as JG.