Faugheen betting patterns

[mayo]

from Sunday Times

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) is investigating alleged betting irregularities and patterns linked to the withdrawal of the racehorse Faugheen from the Champion Hurdle at this year’s Cheltenham festival.

The horse, trained by Willie Mullins, was withdrawn from the race after it sustained a suspensory ligament injury. Faugheen had been the favourite for the Champion Hurdle, having won the previous year.

The investigation concerns a number of ante-post bets placed by a group of punters who wagered that Faugheen would not complete or win the race before the horse was officially withdrawn in February on veterinary advice, according to informed…

[Old Vic]

Presume this is Betfair info ? Cant recall a big drift before news.

[Old Vic]

A couple of hours according to this guy on betfair forum

Poppydog. • February 17, 2016 1:32 PM GMT
Hope Betfair refund people who've had their money stolen in the past hour or two.

[mayo]

Who leaked it ?

THE BHA is alleged to be investigating suspicious betting patterns regarding the withdrawal of Faugheen from last season's Champion Hurdle.

Trained by Willie Mullins, who is not suspected of any wrongdoing, Faugheen was the red-hot favourite for the Cheltenham Festival Grade 1, and was also part of several multiple bets involving other Mullins-trained runners for the meeting.

However, the eight-year-old was ruled out of the race in Feburary with a sore suspensory ligament.

The Irish Times allege that several lay bets were struck on Faugheen before news of his injury emerged, with the amounts involved significant enough to affect Faugheen's price with bookmakers and on the betting exchanges.

The Turf Club is assisting the BHA in their inquiries, and, while the identity of those who leaked the information has been established, it is not known what action, if any, can be taken.

Robin Mounsey, BHA media manager, said on Sunday: "It is BHA policy not to comment on investigations or speculation surrounding potential investigations."

[Istabraq]

Interesting.
Though I know Betfair have a team of 100+ inspectors/auditors who follow betting patterns on every event, Faugheen was pulled almost a year ago so I'm surprised they weren't all over it at the time.

This happens all the time, yards have access to far more info than we'll ever have and they will always look to gain financially from it, this is unlikely to ever change, the inception of exchanges just makes this easier but at the losing end is always a poor unfortunate honest punter....

[Kevloaf]

Fine lines and grey areas!

If you put yourself in positions to know this information and you're not doing anything wrong by doing that, I tend to think then you deserve the advantage, on the whole. Difficult to know when this changes from 'being-in-the-know' and becoming exploitative isn't it.

Be interesting to see what happens, they say no press is bad press

[Grade1]

I can think of many other horses that drifted before being ruled out. A minefield.

[Faugheen_Machine]

I can think of many other horses that drifted before being ruled out. A minefield.

Agreed. It's almost impossible to police as there are loads of examples of horses drifting on the exchanges prior to an announcement, e.g. Vautour drifting in the Gold Cup betting before Ricci made the announcement that he was heading for the Ryanair.