Danny Hobby Returns

| Tue 26 July, 2011

Former jockey Danny Hobby, who took a $5000 bribe from Laurie Connell to jump off a horse at the 1983 AHA Cup, will be able to attend racecourses after Racing and Wagering yesterday lifted his ban.

Hobby, now 47, was a 19-year-old apprentice in 1983 when he jumped off Strike Softly - widely acclaimed as the best horse in the field - and later fled Australia with his girlfriend on the promise of being paid $4000 a month to stay out of the country.

He was eventually jailed for three years for conspiring with Bob Meyers to fix the race.

Mr Connell was convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by paying Hobby to stay out of Australia.

Yesterday, RWWA's Integrity Assurance Committee decided to lift Hobby's warning-off status after an application from the former jockey.

In making the decision, the committee said it had been 28 years since the events which led to Hobby's warning off and he had not breached any orders during the 17 years he was banned from attending racecourses.

The committee also said he was an apprentice at the time of the Strike Softly affair and had been under significant pressure from influential people in the racing industry.

Story from The West Australian