Racing: Murphy makes plea for Jockey Club leniency

The trainer Ferdy Murphy is hoping the Jockey Club shows leniency when he faces the disciplinary committee today to answer a charge of "acting in a manner prejudicial to the good reputation of horseracing" for remarks made on the BBC's Kenyon Confronts programme.

A date for the hearings for the trainers Jamie Osborne and David Wintle, who face similar charges, has yet to be arranged.

In the BBC documentary entitled "They Fix Races Don't They?" the three trainers were secretly filmed. Murphy, talking to a reporter whom he believed was a prospective owner, says on film that he took bets on a person-to-person website on one of his own horses. The trio have claimed that their comments were misinterpreted.

Murphy said yesterday: "You could have 10 conversations a day you wouldn't want recorded. You have to put your hands up and say we were caught out. I was very foolish to have got myself into this position I'm in."

Jeremy Phipps, former head of security at the Jockey Club, resigned after making embarrassing remarks while being secretly filmed for the Panorama programme "The Corruption Of Racing". Murphy went on: "The Jockey Club will admit that these [television] people are very devious. They did it with Jeremy Phipps as well. I hope the Jockey Club look favourably on the three of us in that light."

* Frenchman's Creek is out for the season after straining a tendon, Hughie Morrison, his trainer, said yesterday. The eight-year-old had been 10-1 for the Hennessy Gold Cup.