Santa Anita stewards suspend exercise rider Egan

ARCADIA, Calif. - Jockey Darren Egan, suspended 12 years by British horse racing officials in February for failing to put forth his best effort in two races in 2013, has been suspended by California Horse Racing Board officials from working an exercise rider at Santa Anita.

Egan, 24, has worked as an exercise rider in California for nearly a year. He has not ridden in England since October 2013.

In a one-paragraph decision issued Sunday, stewards Grant Baker, Scott Chaney, and Kim Sawyer suspended Egan, stating that he could not apply for a license in California until the completion of his penalty issued on Feb. 8 by the British Horseracing Authority.

Egan’s suspension by the BHA was made retroactive to Nov. 23, 2015, and lasts until Nov. 22, 2027. In a hearing conducted by the BHA in November, Egan was cited for his rides on two horses in England in 2013 and for providing information to gambler Philip Langford about the chances of his mounts.

A BHA investigation into Langford’s wagers through a betting exchange indicated that he bet on Egan’s mounts to lose in the summer of 2013 and had been in contact with the rider about the chances of those horses. In an e-mail sent to the BHA in November, Egan admitted wrongdoing and said “I needed the money desperately.”

In 2015, Egan sought a jockey’s license in California, but was granted an exercise rider’s license after BHA officials declined to send a letter of clearance on behalf of the jockey to California officials. At the time, the BHA indicated that Egan was under investigation, Sawyer said.

Last month, the BHA stated that Langford would be excluded from racing “indefinitely and that no application by him for a removal of the exclusion should be entertained for 15 years.”

Egan appeared at a hearing with Santa Anita stewards on Feb. 25.

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