Why the speed of disciplinary proceedings continues to frustrate

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In Monday's email Chris reflects on the news that leading trainer Dan Skelton is set to be charged by the BHA after a dispute with a syndicate of owners over a horse sold three and a half years ago – and subscribers can get more great insight, tips and racing chat from Chris every Monday to Friday.

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So it appears the BHA has decided to charge Dan Skelton with breaches of the trainers' code of conduct in relation to the George Gently case, though the wheels have not quite been set in motion. The ruling body has written to the syndicate that complained about Skelton back in 2018, specifying that charges will be made, but the trainer says he has not yet received any notice to that effect; when he does, Skelton will naturally defend himself, having denied wrongdoing throughout.

On the assumption that the charge letter eventually makes it to Skelton's yard, there are many issues arising from such a case but one that strikes me is the length of time this matter has already taken. The initial complaint was made three and a half years ago, dismissed by the BHA 15 months later and now revived after a persistent campaign by the owners involved.

For now, the BHA won't even acknowledge the existence of the case, sticking instead to its stock answer about not commenting on ongoing investigations or speculation about same. Eventually, we'll surely hear more about the 2019 decision not to pursue this case and why a different decision has now been reached so long afterwards. But for now there must be suspicion that the lengthy initial investigation failed in some way.

If a disciplinary panel is finally convened in this case, it will be hearing about events from almost six years ago. This is a long way from ideal and, while the reasons for that delay are varied, it falls on the BHA to ensure expeditious justice within horse racing.

The length of time taken for disciplinary investigations has been a source of discontent in racing for as long as I can remember. All the way back in May 2008, the Neville Review recommended "quicker and improved management of cases which are to be prosecuted".

There has been a lot of personnel turnover at the BHA's integrity department since those days and I'm sure an honest attempt has been made at improving matters but the subject still comes up at regular intervals. Much was made last year of how long it took the BHA to resolve the complaint made against Robbie Dunne by Bryony Frost.

The BHA faced criticism over how long it took to resolve the complaint made against Robbie Dunne by Bryony Frost

I sat in on two disciplinary hearings at the end of 2021, involving John Gosden and Finley Marsh, in which the BHA's representative was asked by the panel to explain why it had taken so long to get the cases in question to a hearing. In both cases, the BHA accepted that there had been some measure of delay, beyond any complications caused by Covid. It was suggested both times that the integrity team was operating at capacity and was simply unable to deal with its workload any faster.

The BHA accepted, when I asked on Sunday, that there was still a need to speed things up but it also offered a defence of its record in this area in recent years. I'm told that, since 2017, the BHA has run 412 "compliance-related investigations", a definition which excludes safeguarding or licensing cases. Of those, 141 ended up in front of a disciplinary panel and took an average 297 days from the start of the investigative process to the hearing.

Verifying these numbers is impossible without access to BHA files, so we can either take them on trust or not. It's a hefty caseload, amounting to around three new cases every fortnight, a third of which eventually reach a disciplinary panel. We would need more detail about the types of cases involved to gain an insight as to whether 10 months per case was a reasonable batting average.

Anyway, a BHA spokesman added: "Judicial and quasi-judicial process can sometimes take time, because this is what is required for justice to be done in serious, complex cases with potentially career-impacting outcomes for the respondents. Where cases are appropriate for swift determination, they are identified and go through the fast-track process which was introduced at the end of 2017.

"Once an individual has been charged, there must be time given to the defendants to respond and make any legal submissions, which can impact significantly on the time taken to reach a hearing. It is crucial, in the interests of fairness to all parties, that these processes be allowed to play out in full. The BHA also does not have statutory powers to compel individuals to participate in investigations the same way as the police, therefore interviews and investigatory processes do take longer.

"Nevertheless, following the Robbie Dunne case, we stated that we will be speaking to the chair of the independent Judicial Panel regarding case management and finding ways to reduce the time taken for some of these legal processes."

Let's hope some progress can be made because it's in everyone's interests that cases are processed expeditiously. Justice delayed is justice denied, as the old saying goes. Evidence can deteriorate over time, particularly when it comes in the form of a person's memory. Nobody, complainant or defendant, enjoys having to spend many months fretting about the prospect of having to be cross-examined by lawyers at a formal hearing.

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The Front Runner is our latest email newsletter available exclusively to Members' Club Ultimate subscribers. Chris Cook, a four-time Racing Reporter of the Year award winner, provides his take on the day's biggest stories and tips for the upcoming racing every morning from Monday to Friday