Milton Harris | Horse Racing Free Tips

Harris Withdraws Appeal Regarding Licensing Committee’s Ruling

After appealing the British Horseracing Authority (BHA)'s ruling regarding his licence last week, former trainer Milton Harris has now withdrawn that appeal, the BHA confirmed on Wednesday.

Harris had his licence suspended in November and withdrawn in January by the BHA's Licensing Committee. The agency ruled he was not a “fit and proper person” to hold a training licence.

Regarding the BHA's concerns, the Licensing Committee said, they surrounded “the nature and extent of MH's admitted breaches of the conditions which already exist on his licence, which were imposed in 2018 and MH's failure to be candid in his dealings with the BHA in respect of those breaches, particularly when the BHA was seeking to provide opportunities for MH to remedy those breaches”, “misconduct in his dealings with others, including fellow licence holder Mr Simon Earle” and “in respect of safeguarding arising out of MH's conduct with young persons employed at his racing yard”.

Harris began training in 2001 but ceased training from 2011 to 2018 due to financial issues.

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Former Trainer Milton Harris To Appeal BHA’s Ruling

Former trainer Milton Harris, whose licence was suspended in November and withdrawn in January, will appeal the decision of the British Horseracing Authority's Licensing Committee, a BHA spokesperson confirmed on Wednesday evening.

The BHA Licensing Committee's verdict stated in January that he was not a “fit and proper person” to hold a training licence. Originally, his licence was suspended by the BHA in November pending January's hearing, with the BHA's stance, “a result of a breach of the conditions on his licence and related matters”.

A spokesperson for the BHA said on Wednesday, “The BHA can confirm that Mr. Harris has formally notified the BHA of his intention to appeal against the recent decision of the Licensing Committee. We will provide further details regarding the appeal in due course and will make no further comment at this time.”

Harris told PA Sport, “I have appealed. I need to respect the Licensing Committee's decision, which I do, but some of the information they have been given was not correct.”

Some of the BHA's concerns surrounded “the nature and extent of Harris's admitted breaches of the conditions which already exist on his licence, which were imposed in 2018 and Harris's failure to be candid in his dealings with the BHA in respect of those breaches, particularly when the BHA was seeking to provide opportunities for Harris to remedy those breaches”, “misconduct in his dealings with others, including fellow licence holder Mr. Simon Earle” and “in respect of safeguarding arising out of Harris's conduct with young persons employed at his racing yard”.

Harris began training in 2001 and was absent from the training ranks from 2011 to 2018 due to financial issues.

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Milton Harris Has Training Licence Withdrawn

Milton Harris has been ruled not to be a “fit and proper person” to hold a trainer's licence in written reasons issued by the British Horseracing Authority's Licensing Committee.

The Warminster handler was found to be in multiple breaches of his licence conditions, with the BHA citing his “misconduct in his dealings with others, including fellow licence holder Mr Simon Earle” and “concerns in respect of safeguarding arising out of MH's conduct with young persons employed at his racing yard”.

Harris, who had an enforced absence from the training ranks between 2011 and 2018 due to financial issues, also admitted to being in breach of conditions which were imposed on his licence upon his return. Harris reportedly failed “to be candid in his dealings with the BHA in respect of those breaches, particularly when the BHA was seeking to provide opportunities for MH to remedy those breaches”.

In the wake of the ruling, BHA director of integrity and regulatory operations, Tim Naylor said, “Racing is a sport that works hard to provide a safe and welcoming space for all and the ruling of the Licensing Committee in this case sends a clear message that those in positions of authority in our industry must act in a way that upholds these values.

“We are grateful to the committee for their time in considering this matter and also to those who came forward to share their experiences of Mr Harris and gave evidence at the hearing.

“Some of the details in the Licensing Committee's decision make for extremely uncomfortable reading. Mr Harris's behaviour over a prolonged period of time fell a long way short of what we expect of a licensed person and, as the committee found, would cause damage to racing's reputation if allowed to continue without repercussion.

“We are, therefore, pleased with the panel's finding that Mr Harris is not a fit and proper person to hold a licence.

“As is clear from the decision, the BHA's concerns ranged across a number of very serious issues. One of these concerns related to safeguarding. The BHA takes its safeguarding responsibilities extremely seriously and, as demonstrated by its bringing this case before the Licensing Committee, will do everything within its powers to ensure that those working in our sport do so in an environment befitting what should rightly be expected by them and, in the case of young people, their parents or guardians upon taking a job in the sport.

“The BHA recently published an updated Safeguarding and Human Welfare Strategy, which built on our existing policies and seeks to protect and promote the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved in the sport.

“As always, we would encourage anybody who feels they have been subjected to or witnessed inappropriate behaviour in our sport to contact us. The BHA's Code of Conduct clearly establishes the standards that everyone involved in racing is expected to uphold and we will never turn a blind eye to concerns raised about conduct which may fall below these standards.”

Harris described himself as “disappointed” by the verdict, with a further response planned in the coming days.

“I've just seen the decision of the committee and I'm obviously disappointed,” said Harris. “My immediate priority is to look after the horses, owners and long-serving staff here and in the immediate that will be my sole focus. I will make a statement [on the decision] in a few days' time.”

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Bargain Buys – Byrne, Hillen and Harris in Search of More July Sale Riches

If it's bargains you want, look no further than the Tattersalls July Sale, but you will need to be able to think outside the box to secure them.

Nobody can accuse Edgar Byrne, Stephen Hillen and Milton Harris for rigid thinking, however, as the three men are responsible for unearthing arguably the best value buys at Newmarket in the past few years.

Just 3,000gns was all it took for Byrne to buy the Godolphin-bred Kitty Marion (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}), who went on to win a group 3 in Germany, while Hillen picked up Zofelle (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}), who would go on to achieve a group 3 victory and become group 1 placed in America, for a mere 27,000gns.

Trainer Milton Harris recorded his best ever season over jumps last term by sending out 56 winners, highlighted by Knight Salute (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), a horse he picked up for just 14,000gns at this sale 12 months ago, bagging the G1 Jewson Anniversary 4-y-o Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree in the spring.

Put simply, there are bargains to be found at the July Sale this week. However, according to Byrne, not only do you have to spend hours trawling through the catalogue but you also need a heavy helping of luck.

Recalling Kitty Marion at the sales, Byrne said, “She had a lovely pedigree. Her dam is a half-sister to Wootton Bassett (GB) so, even on that basis, I couldn't believe she went through as cheaply as she did.”

He added, “If she never set foot on a racecourse again, she was a winning filly with a nice pedigree and I couldn't believe we got her for 3,000gns. We were prepared to pay a fair bit more for her to be honest.

“That's the beauty of buying at the July Sale and buying off Godolphin. They have fantastic pedigrees and disperse regularly.”

Despite costing just a shade more than a month's training fees, Kitty Marion belied her basement buy status when landing the G3 Baden-Baden Goldene Peitsche in Germany last season, a win that was made extra special by the fact that the filly was trained by Byrne's close friend Guillermo Arizkorreta.

He explained, “She was bought for the champion trainer in Spain, Guillermo Arizkorreta, who is a great friend of mine. We rode together as amateurs a long time ago and I bought a very good miler, Amedeo Modigliani (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), for him as well so we are always looking.

“We were extremely lucky to find Kitty Marion for 3,000gns and, at the end of the day, you need a bit of luck sometimes. She was just completely missed by everyone and that's what this industry is all about; getting a rub of the green on a given day.”

Hillen echoed the sentiments of Byrne. The well-known bloodstock agent, who was responsible for buying the sale-topping Saxon Warrior filly consigned by Katie Walsh's Greenhills Farm at this year's Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale, explained how recruiting horses for America is not an exact science.

In the case of Zofelle, who won just once from seven starts for Hugo Palmer before climbing the ranks in America and achieving Group 1 black type, Hillen was clearly thinking on his feet.

“I find that if a horse does something once, it's always capable of doing it again,” he said, referring to Zofelle's debut win. “Her form had tailed off a little bit after that but, at the price, I thought she was worth taking a chance on,” he added.

Zofelle is now worth a multitude of the 27,000gns Hillen paid for her in 2019 with the bloodstock agent explaining that, in recruiting horses for America, it's the lowly-rated horses who can sometimes usurp the bigger buys, depending on how they take to the training.

He explained, “Zofelle just looked like she wanted fast ground. I am good friends with Brendan Walsh and it's great when they turn out that good. You don't expect it when they cost what she did.”

Hillen added, “When you've only won one race, you've loads of options in America, and she obviously got confidence as she progressed through the ranks.

“Sometimes the real naps don't work out in America. You could have one with listed-placed form and they might not take to the training.

“Then you could get one rated in the 70s or maybe lower and they take to it. It's hard to predict which ones will take to it and it's a numbers game really.”

Hillen and Byrne will be back for more at Newmarket this week and, so too will Harris, who will be bidding to try and find the next Knight Salute.

Harris knows that he won't be alone in trying to find the next winner of the Triumph Hurdle but expects to pick up a number of new recruits ahead of the jumps season.

He said, “I commented a few times last year when I was interviewed after Knight Salute was winning that horses like him provide optimism to people who can't go out and spend big money on horses.”

Harris added, “Mark Adams [agent] and I, we spend weeks on this catalogue. We put together a list of 70 or 80 horses and eliminate them as we go after finding out about them and making some phone calls. That list will be down to about 40 by the time the sale starts and we will try and buy five or six.

“I am really pleased for the racing public that they can see that for 14,000 you can buy a good racehorse. I plan to buy five or six this week with the cheapest being about 10,000gns and the most expensive about 70,000. You've got a chance at the July Sale.”

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