Yorkshire Ringer

According to Marcus Armytage in the Daily Telegraph, an amateur attempt to run a 'ringer' in a Yorkshire point-to-point, not for financial gain but to put make a point to the local hunt committee, has resulted in the four conspirators, including former jump jockey Roger Marley, being warned off for various lengths of time.

Max'N Limbo, a gelding who had run under Rules, was substituted for Quentin, an unregistered hunter that was due to run in the members' race at the Staintondale Point-to-point on April 17 2006. But after a tip-off to the organisers, the horse, which did not match up to the description in his passport, was prevented from running.

This prompted a separate investigation into Yorkshire blacksmith Robert Tierney who, with his son Richard, was warned off for a previous ringer incident. Yesterday, Robert Tierney collected a further suspension, meaning it will be February 2016 before he is allowed on a racecourse. However, the British Horseracing Authority disciplinary panel have decided to allow three years of the suspension to run concurrently with another two-year ban imposed.

Marley, a horse dealer/bloodstock agent and the owner of Max'n Limbo, was warned off for two-and-a-half years, but has been given conditions attached to his punishment in order to protect his sales and pre-training business.

His wife, Ruth, was warned off for a year while the intended jockey, Charles Gundry, the outgoing master of the Middleton Hunt, was warned off for a year.