Cambridge trainer Bernard Dyke has been suspended for three months and fined $7500 over his dishonesty about a TAB bet.
He will also have to pay $7500 in costs to New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and $2500 to the Judicial Control Authority. NZTR had sought a six-month disqualification, butJCA committee chairman Murray McKechnie said that while the offence was serious, it did not warrant a ban of that extent, the Sunday Star-Times reported.
The charges followed a bet placed by Dyke at the Cambridge Raceway Clubhouse Sportsbar in January, when he asked for a $60 percentage trifecta on the Wellington Cup, but was mistakenly given a ticket for $16,320.
Despite being alerted to the error by another punter, a scene captured on the bar's closed circuit security camera, Dyke made no attempt to rectify it.
The bet lost and bar officials later discovered the discrepancy in their takings, but Dyke refused to reimburse the operators who repaid the money to the TAB themselves.
Dyke was later charged with committing a serious racing offence but throughout the inquiry he maintained he did not know of the mistake.
He accused the key witness of concocting evidence, but McKechnie found instead that Dyke was not a credible witness and his evidence was wholly unconvincing.
The Waikato Times reported the owners of the bar were looking at seeking recourse from Dyke through the civil courts, as the JCA does not have the power to order reparation.
