One of the leading Australian jockeys, Ben Melham, could face a minimum suspension of two years in case the gambling allegations against him are upheld. The only way for him to avoid such a ban is to manage to present some mitigating circumstances to the racing authorities to make them reduce the suspension.
The 32-year-old Melham, a top jockey in the country, will be allowed to take part in competitions until the Victoria Racing Tribunal hears his case unless more proof is provided. Despite the coronavirus crisis and the followed lockdown, which has slowed the normal course of justice in most legal matters on the territory of Australia, local racing authorities have been pressing the Tribunal to hear Mr Melham’s case as soon as possible.
Yesterday, he was hit with a series of integrity charges, with six of them associated with violation of gambling rules placing bets amounting to more than $21,000 in total. Allegedly, many of the bets were placed at the time when he was out of competitions for several months after he broke his wrist in March 2019, but there were also quite a few bets placed on horses he was participating with in races later in 2019.
Another charge faced by the jockey is related to Melham giving misleading or false evidence to stewards at the time when they interrogated him about the alleged wagering activity. The same charge was also faced by Melham’s partner, Karlie Dales, whose accounts have been used by the jockey to place bets, according to stewards.
Melham One of the High-Profile Jockeys Banned from Horse Racing for Betting Rules Violation
The executive general manager of integrity at Racing Victoria, Jamie Stier, explained rules covering wagers on horses a jockey rides vary, but in the end, the important thing is all betting activities are suspended.
Ben Melham is the latest professional jockey in a line of high-profile athletes who have been affected by penalties for breaching betting rules over the past decade. Back in 2012, Damien Oliver was suspended from horse races for eight months after he was found to have placed an AU$10,000 bet on a horse he was competing against in a certain race. James Macdonald, on the other hand, faced an 18-month suspension for a betting offence.
As explained by Racing Victoria’s executive general manager of integrity, only one of the charges faced by Melham carried a mandatory minimum penalty of suspension from sport for two years. Still, the VRT could consider that special circumstances exist, so that the regulator takes into consideration these circumstances when applying the rules and imposing an appropriate penalty.
If the charges are proved following a consideration of the facts of the case, the mandatory minimum of the penalty would be taken as a starting point when considering the length of the ban. Ben Melham has been closely monitored in his conduct, despite he is being left to continue competing in horse races at this point.
- Author
Daniel Williams
