Former banned jockey Houghton still battles image
Mar 3rd, 10
During his years in school, jockey Terry Houghton recalls hearing the U.S. legal standard of innocent until proven guilty. Based on his experience in racing, that standard does not apply.
Since December 2006, when Tampa Bay Downs excluded Houghton and six other riders from the track when their names came up in a race-fixing investigation, Houghton
essentially has had to prove his innocence to gain permission to ride at various tracks.
Each time he decides a new track might offer a career opportunity, he first faces extensive review from track officials and/or regulators, essentially forcing him to prove his innocence.
Tampa Bay’s decision followed an FBI investigation that would lead to three indictments. Information from the FBI and Thoroughbred Racing Protective
Bureau led Tampa Bay and other tracks to ban the riders. Tracks that have refused to let Houghton ride have not given a specific reason. Houghton never was charged with a crime or suspended by any racing regulator. His name does not appear a single time in the 34-page indictment filed on May 6, 2009, in a U.S. District Court in Michigan.
Still, Houghton faces scrutiny. The latest chapter occurred on February 25 as the License Review Committee of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission considered him. Noting Houghton was not planning to ride in Kentucky immediately, it left the case open.
Committee member Burr Travis noted the Michigan court cases of the three men charged have been continued to August 3 and could be settled that day. The committee preferred to wait for that possible settlement.
“I’m hoping to eventually put all of this behind me,” said Houghton, who plans to ride this year at Mountaineer Race Track in West Virginia. “It would be nice to have it over with.”
The investigation led to the indictments of Ghazi Manni, Mitchell Karam, and jockey Ricardo Valdes. They allegedly participated in a conspiracy from December 2005 through December ’06 to fix races at Tampa Bay Downs and Great Lakes Downs. Wagers were placed at Delaware Park. Allegedly, some jockeys received bribes.
Investigators have documented numerous phone calls between Manni, an alleged bookmaker, and Valdes. Manni and Karam were also indicted last year for bribing college athletes to fix basketball and football games.
The indictment did not do the other riders, like Houghton, any favors by noting that more riders could be named in the case. Tampa Bay also banned Derek Bell, Jorge Bracho, Luis Castillo, Jose Delgado, and Joe Judice.
Houghton’s representatives believe the schemers’ efforts to affect race odds caused investigators to look at Houghton. They said as part of the coup, bettors would place $500 win bets on a horse, giving unwitting bettors the impression potentially “smart” money backed that horse. Often top jockeys like Houghton or Bell would be riding horses who received the large early win bets.
Those large wagers would create a “false favorite,” as other bettors—believing they were following smart early money—would continue to wager on the horse in all pools. The schemers focused their attention on the superfecta pools, where they would not place wagers on the “false favorite” in first. Moments before post time, the schemers would cancel the large win bet. Houghton’s representatives believe these betting patterns led investigators to look at Houghton and other riders who were not involved in the conspiracy.
The Jockeys’ Guild helped Houghton present his case to the Kentucky committee. Since the investigation started, Houghton has competed at eight different tracks in seven different states. Houghton said Turfway Park officials told him he could ride at the Northern Kentucky track if the commission licensed him.
Houghton received a boost in July 2008 when the Michigan Office of Racing Commissioner licensed him, noting painstaking research found no wrongdoing on Houghton’s part. But as it turned out, that victory has not been definitive.
For now, he awaits the Kentucky committee’s August recommendation. Waiting has been a familiar feeling for Houghton over the past several years.—Frank Angst
www.thoroughbredtimes.com Thoroughbred Times TODAY March 3, 2010
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