Threatening to Kill a Race Horse Means You’re Probably in Too Deep With the Mob
A 26-year-old British man, terrified that he forgot to submit a bet on a horse race on behalf of a “shadowy syndicate” that could have netted 50,000 pounds, decided to take it out on the horse. Because, even though his partners wouldn’t have lost money, they would have lost out on money, which is just as bad.↵↵Therefore it became him or the horse. Even if horse killing is kind of old hat for the mob. The horse head in bed thing was a cliche 30 years ago. C’mon, guys.↵
↵↵⇥Andrew Rodgerson, 26, warned a stud manager not to run 2008 St Leger winner Conduit in a valuable race at Ascot after he forgot to place the accumulator bet, the Press Association reported. Rodgerson, of Balderstone, near Rochdale, sent a series of text messages and emails to Peter Reynolds, the general manager for the Ballymacoll Stud Farm in Ireland which owned Conduit. ↵⇥↵⇥Ten days before the race he texted Mr. Reynolds: “Dear Peter, we would just like to warn you should Conduit run in the King George then the horse will be killed.”↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥Five days later he followed up with an email to the general manager, which read: “Dear Peter, I don’t believe you are taking the threat of death to Conduit very seriously.↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥Police were informed and Rodgerson was arrested at his home address just two days before the race.↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥Joseph Hart, defending, said Rodgerson worked at a travel agency and would place bets for a syndicate, some of whose members he knew, while others were more shadowy.↵⇥
↵⇥↵⇥“The syndicate would tell him when and where to put money on and get the best odds,” he said.↵⇥
↵↵↵Meaning he would owe his employers 50,000 pounds he probably didn’t have in his possession. I’m sure they’d find other means of getting it off him, however. Clearly he thought so too. For his poor efforts at horse intimidation (the horse entered the race and won) Rodgerson received a suspended 34-week jail sentence. Probably better to be in there than on the outside with an angry shadowy syndicate. ↵
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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
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