panorama.s2014e40.drugs.and.money.dog.racing.undercover
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00:00Tonight, we investigate race-fixing at the heart of one of Britain's most popular sports.
00:09I'm known as the biggest freak in England.
00:12The biggest what?
00:14Massive rig.
00:15We uncover the secrets of doping dogs to rig races and win big.
00:20What does that do?
00:22It cuts your adrenaline out of the body.
00:24Oh, right.
00:25So when they come out of the last pin, they've got no extra.
00:29I shouldn't tell you this.
00:31And we discover the potentially devastating consequences for the dogs.
00:36The implications are that the dogs are being damaged for people to make money.
00:44We investigate what happens to racing greyhounds when their careers are over.
00:49Do you think they're being killed?
00:51I'm sure they're being killed.
00:53And we ask whether a sport with problems like these has a future.
00:59If we carry on the way we are, there is none.
01:01None at all.
01:03Absolutely nothing.
01:17If it was to get beat, you'd see why.
01:21The greyhound industry boomed after the depression.
01:25Greyhound racing is a £1.5 billion industry
01:29and remains one of the most popular spectator sports in the country.
01:33Nowadays, three times as much money is laid with bookies off the course
01:37as it is at race meetings.
01:40Its success has always depended upon the passion and hard work of trainers.
01:46I've been involved in greyhound racing since I was four years old.
01:50The dogs are well looked after. The dogs really love to chase.
01:53It's from their breeding and it really is just a great all-round sport.
02:01Among trainers like Rick Holloway, Coventry Stadium has been a favoured venue.
02:09This afternoon, ahead of the punters arriving, young greyhounds are trialling.
02:21Come this evening, most of these seats will remain empty,
02:24giving the impression of a sport in decline.
02:28In recent years, a number of tracks have even closed.
02:31But with around 5,000 race fixtures a year, the industry still makes a healthy profit.
02:41So where does the money end up?
02:44The bookmakers earn £237 million profit out of the sport
02:48and the greyhound trainers lose on average £3 million a year.
02:52I think that highlights and says everything about the sport.
02:58I want to investigate what impact that imbalance is having.
03:07Greyhound racing is regulated by the Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
03:11Or GBGB.
03:21I've discovered it's an organisation that it's not easy to get answers from.
03:29I'm here at Coventry Greyhound Stadium, which is an independent greyhound track.
03:34I've actually been stopped from filming at tracks that are licensed to the Greyhound Racing Board.
03:41It's a regulator for one reason or another.
03:45And it's a sign of the kind of thing that's been happening to us ever since we started our investigation.
03:51And I have to say that greyhound racing has all the signs of an industry with something to hide.
03:58Greyhound Racing has been a popular sport in this country since before the Second World War.
04:05From its earliest days, it's been on the lookout for cheating.
04:09Even if the technology was a touch rudimentary.
04:13And it costs about £3 a week to keep a dog in kennel.
04:16For that, you need a greyhound.
04:19And it costs about £3 a week to keep a dog in kennel.
04:22And it costs about £3 a week to keep a dog in kennel.
04:25For that, it's not only fed, but carefully guarded from being knocked.
04:30Before each meeting, there is a ritual of urine testing for doping.
04:36The authorities have fought a long battle to keep the sport clean.
04:41These days, it's the job of the GBGB to police it.
04:46But I've received information which suggests that some trainers are finding it easy to flout the rules.
04:57I've been told about this man, Chris Mosdall.
05:01He's a trainer who's raced at a number of tracks and most recently racing weekly at Wimbledon Stadium,
05:07home of the English Greyhound Derby, the most prestigious event in the sport.
05:12Some trainers look after their own greyhounds as well as those owned by others.
05:17Posing as a city exec and would-be owner called Phil,
05:20I've arranged to go and see Chris Mosdall about buying a dog.
05:26I'm out here in rural Essex, which is where Chris Mosdall kennels his dogs.
05:31Apparently he likes it here because it gives him room to run them in the fields.
05:34Are you Chris?
05:35I am.
05:36I'm Phil.
05:37You spoke on the phone.
05:38I did, yeah.
05:39I found you, yeah.
05:40How are you doing?
05:41It wasn't too bad.
05:42He shows me his kennels, which look clean and well-kept.
05:45Nothing like this, is it?
05:46It's a 40,000-pound dog, then.
05:48Which one?
05:49This thing.
05:50It was 20 grand or something yesterday.
05:52That puppy there cost 15.
05:54Wow.
05:56He shows me the dog he's been keeping.
05:58It's a good dog.
05:59That puppy there cost 15.
06:01Wow.
06:03He shows me the dog he's selling.
06:05Her name's Tico Foods.
06:07That's her second.
06:08She's been in season.
06:09This is Tico Foods.
06:10Oh, right, yeah.
06:11Tico Foods is nearly three, is that right?
06:13Yeah.
06:14Yeah.
06:15I mean, 400 quid ain't a lot of money for her, is it?
06:18I'm about to find out one way in which Chris Mosdall may be boosting his income.
06:23Now, tonight we're going for a massive gamble.
06:25This is massive.
06:27She will win.
06:28She's called Penny's Swan.
06:30She won tonight.
06:31How many dogs you got?
06:32I've already told him I've owned a greyhound before.
06:35This is only my first meeting,
06:37but it's not long before he's hinting at how he fixes races.
06:41You must have been around kennels before,
06:43so you know, funny games get played.
06:45When there's funny games, you don't let a dog win.
06:48Yeah, yeah, yeah.
06:52I let Chris Mosdall think I'll go along with it.
06:55Listen, I'll be honest with you.
06:58Shut up. I mean, playing games well.
07:01So when you say games, you mean you've been stopping her on previous races?
07:05Yeah, yeah, yeah.
07:10This security notice in part reflects the greyhound industry's concern
07:14with keeping a clean image.
07:16Stopping a dog involves making it run more slowly,
07:20usually by giving it drugs.
07:22That may seem like a strange thing to do,
07:25and it's certainly against the rules,
07:27but it can have its advantages.
07:29It's all to do with betting.
07:32For professional punters,
07:33the dogs have an attraction beyond other betting sports.
07:37By slowing a dog, a trainer can lengthen the odds on it
07:40and even get it regraded so that it only runs against lesser dogs.
07:45Then, once it's been categorised as a long shot,
07:48he can run it without drugs,
07:50vastly increasing its chances of winning.
07:52It's race-fixing, and it's completely illegal.
08:05Four days later, I return to Chris Mosdall's kennels.
08:12I buy TECO Foods for £400.
08:16That's 400.
08:17Yeah.
08:18Count it.
08:19Now?
08:20TECO Foods will run this weekend
08:22in a race including her kennel mate, Penny Swan.
08:27Chris Mosdall's told me
08:28he's been stopping both dogs in previous races.
08:31So how does he do it?
08:33What do you use, by the way?
08:35I shouldn't show you.
08:36No, of course I won't.
08:38I'm just kidding.
08:39This is...
08:40Right.
08:41You give an injection of that.
08:43That's a real strong vitamin.
08:44It helps them in races, pulls them on a bit more.
08:47Yeah.
08:48And I hide these in there.
08:50These are valoids.
08:51All right.
08:52There are three of them.
08:54What does that do?
08:56It cuts the adrenaline out of the body.
08:58Oh, right.
08:59So when they go round the last bin,
09:01they've got no extra.
09:02I shouldn't tell you all this.
09:04No, but I just need to know,
09:06so that I'm like that, you know.
09:08If you give her that, what do you reckon she'll come?
09:10Fourth.
09:11Fourth or fifth.
09:12Perfect.
09:13Yeah.
09:19Chris Mosdor says he is using a drug which he calls valoid.
09:26I've found out it has another name,
09:29cyclosine hydrochloride.
09:32Cyclosine has been around a long time.
09:34It's an antihistamine and has been used in humans
09:37for child sickness and other forms of nausea
09:40and sickness for a long time.
09:42What side effects might cyclosine have in dogs?
09:45So the side effects would be, or could be,
09:47agitation or drowsiness,
09:49or agitation followed by drowsiness,
09:51a high blood pressure, a high pulse rate.
09:53In a serious case, possibly convulsions as well.
09:56But you think it would probably impair its performance?
09:58I think it would, yes.
10:00I think it would be likely to be slower.
10:06My investigation has unearthed the illicit use of drugs
10:10at the heart of dog racing.
10:13This is not the first time in recent years
10:15that the sport has been hit by scandal.
10:21This man was today prosecuted for burying dogs he killed
10:25behind his house in County Durham.
10:28This is a story which has huge significance
10:31for the Greyhound Board of Great Britain,
10:33which is based here in this red brick building
10:36in the shadow of St Paul's.
10:38He was charged with polluting his land and fined £2,000.
10:45David Smith had been killing greyhounds
10:47which had reached the end of their racing lives
10:49and had been burying them in his back garden.
10:54I remember the story because I broke it.
11:00I estimated that he'd killed 10,000 dogs.
11:04David Smith always...
11:06The scandal led to a parliamentary inquiry.
11:12It shocked the public and it frightened the industry.
11:16And the industry itself, I'm sure, knew what was going on.
11:20Not specifically that one, but they knew.
11:22They'd turned a blind eye.
11:25The industry also initiated an inquiry of its own,
11:28headed by Lord Donoghue, a former Labour minister.
11:33His report concluded that greyhound racing should be allowed
11:36to continue to largely regulate itself,
11:39and the government agreed.
11:41But it did lead to the creation of a new governing body,
11:44the Greyhound Board of Great Britain.
11:47The Greyhound Board of Great Britain
11:49was established by the British government
11:51as part of a new governing body,
11:53the Greyhound Board of Great Britain,
11:55largely funded by bookmakers.
12:02From its City of London headquarters,
12:04the GBGB investigates potential cheating,
12:07sets the rules and licences the tracks.
12:12It's also responsible for overseeing the welfare of the dogs
12:16while they are racing.
12:22The GBGB also monitors what happens to the dogs
12:26when their owners decide to retire them.
12:34Deborah Rothery knows more about this than most.
12:41Her greyhound rescue centre in Yorkshire
12:43is one of the largest in the UK,
12:45rehoming around 250 dogs a year.
12:52Why is a place like this needed?
12:55Because there are places for these dogs to go,
12:57even though the industry will tell you that all the dogs are rehomed.
13:01In reality, there isn't a lot of places for all these dogs to go.
13:06Greyhounds have racing lives of usually just two or three years.
13:10Thousands need to be rehomed every year after retiring.
13:17The dogs which end up in places like this
13:20are some of the lucky ones.
13:29But what happens to the rest?
13:33Someone who helped draw up Lord Donoghue's report
13:36is Clarissa Baldwin.
13:38She was then chief executive of the Dogs Trust.
13:43There are about 8,000 greyhounds we believe go into racing each year.
13:48It sort of presupposes that 8,000 come out at the end.
13:52We know that the Retired Greyhound Trust rehome 4,000
13:56and I think the other charities probably 1,500.
13:59So there's a gap there.
14:01If Clarissa Baldwin is correct,
14:03around 2,500 retired greyhounds may be being killed every year.
14:11The Greyhound Board of Great Britain collects data
14:14on what happens to the dogs after they retire.
14:17But they're keeping it to themselves.
14:20I've put some pretty straightforward questions to the GBGB,
14:24such as how many dogs have you got registered
14:27and how many dogs get put down after they retire
14:30and how many get injured at the track,
14:32and they point-blank refuse to answer any of them.
14:39I'm not the only one who can't get answers.
14:43We've been given the absolute runaround.
14:46We've been to the chairman, back to the chief executive,
14:49back to the chairman, and still they will not be transparent
14:52about the numbers of dogs that are killed at the end of their racing life.
14:57There's a lot of dogs not accounted for.
15:00Nobody has got enough room to fit all these dogs in.
15:04There's a hell of a lot of dogs that are just disappearing.
15:07Do you think they're being killed? I'm sure they're being killed.
15:10The GBGB told Panorama that it does not accept
15:14any requirement or duty to release data on injury or euthanasia.
15:24The Donoghue inquiry called for bookmakers to fund grants
15:27that would be directly used for improving the welfare
15:30of the greyhounds at the tracks.
15:33Some stadiums, like Walthamstow, have invested thousands
15:36on the introduction of more luxurious facilities...
15:39But over the last three years,
15:41while some of the money has been spent on dog welfare,
15:44hundreds of thousands of pounds has been spent
15:46on improving stadium facilities,
15:48like restaurants, toilets and carpeting.
15:56What's more, some of the tracks that receive money
15:59are actually owned by the bookmakers who donated in the first place.
16:03Effectively, some of the money provided by the bookmakers
16:07is ending up back in their own pockets.
16:12But not every stadium gets what it wants.
16:15Until earlier this year, independently-owned Coventry Stadium
16:19was regulated by the GBGB and able to apply for grants from the industry.
16:24It asked for money to buy sand to maintain the track surface.
16:30We did apply for some sand once,
16:32but we were told that they don't provide sand, didn't they?
16:35Although, in my opinion, that's critical to the welfare of the dogs.
16:38At the time, I knew that the bookmaking-owned tracks
16:41were getting very significant grants.
16:44The British Greyhound Racing Fund, which administers the grants,
16:47declined to comment.
16:57It's race day at Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium.
17:01Our dog, Tico Foods, is up against her kennel mate, Penny Swan,
17:06in the 9.15 race.
17:10Earlier, Chris Mosdall revealed his plans to stop both dogs with drugs,
17:15with a view to letting each win at a later date.
17:21He takes time out to meet me at trackside.
17:24He immediately confesses to having just given the dogs cyclozine.
17:29I'll give her three tablets, but you must never tell her that.
17:32No.
17:33I'll give her three, three-and-a-half hours while they run,
17:35which I'll give her until quarter to six.
17:37I'll also give Penny Swan some.
17:39They'll come out the same, bouncing.
17:41But when they've got a kick, it's not there.
17:43Having given them such a large dose,
17:45he's now worried they might run too slowly,
17:48making it obvious they've been doped.
17:51He boasts that his reputation as a race-fixer is well-known.
17:55What for?
17:56I'm known as the biggest freak in England.
17:58The biggest what?
17:59The freak. Massively.
18:02Just as Chris Mosdal predicted, our dog Tico Foods comes fifth,
18:07while Penny Swan comes in fourth,
18:10both running considerably slower than they would normally run.
18:14What's the time?
18:15It's two and a half hours.
18:18Two and a half hours?
18:20Two and a half.
18:21It's not an average race.
18:23It's a race between two and a half hours.
18:26Yes.
18:27one comes in fourth, both running considerably slower than they would do normally.
18:36Most people only win a few quid betting on a greyhound, but Chris Mosdahl tells me he
18:43is into a much more lucrative type of bet.
18:50A combination tri-cast involves picking the first three dogs to cross the finish line
18:55in any order.
18:57He tells me that in a six dog race he simply drugs, or knocks over, the other three greyhounds.
19:04What I used to do is I'd get two dogs that I got in a race tonight and knock them over
19:10with this stuff, and I'd get hold of another kennel hound and give him a thousand pound
19:14of shape and I'd knock his dog over.
19:16And they'd do the tri-cast in Ireland, all ways, and the last one we'd done was 33,000
19:22euros.
19:23That's what they had on.
19:24They won 190 euros, a thousand euros.
19:29While investigating Chris Mosdahl, we're contacted by someone who knew him several years ago.
19:36Charlie Turner employed Chris Mosdahl as a trainer in 2010.
19:40A year later, he says he made a nasty discovery when discussing one of his dogs.
19:47It went a lot faster than what Chris was expecting for his first look at the track.
19:51Chris was happy initially, and he said it went a bit too quick there.
19:54He goes, next time I will have to slow him down a bit.
19:57And I laughed and I said, what are you going to do, like overfeed him and stuff?
20:01And he turned around and went, no, I'm going to give him some of these, bang.
20:04And he got his tablets out in his hand.
20:06What was your reaction to that when he said that?
20:08I was pretty stunned and shocked, and I didn't say anything to him.
20:12I just looked at that and I thought, OK.
20:15And my dog was out of his kennel the next day.
20:18The very next day.
20:21Chris Mosdahl denies that he showed Mr Turner drugs
20:24and says it was not his intention to affect the dog's performance in a negative way.
20:29He also told Panorama that drugs were not cited to him
20:33as the reason for Mr Turner removing the dog from his care.
20:44Back at his kennels, Chris Mosdahl tells me more
20:48about how he rigs races for TriCast bets.
20:51Chris, how you doing, mate? Not bad, not bad. How are you?
20:54It seems the number of people colluding with him
20:57or benefiting from his race-fixing is wider than I'd realised.
21:01But who do you think you have to get someone else involved in?
21:04You have to get the other trainer.
21:06You said that you had the kennel man, but you have the trainer as well?
21:10Despite his cavalier attitude to race-fixing,
21:14he still claims to love his dogs.
21:17They love me to death.
21:19But he says the more frequently he drugs them,
21:22the greater the risk to their health.
21:26You have to leave in a couple of months because the system's f***ed.
21:29He will burn her kidneys out.
21:31How many times have you stopped her in total, do you think?
21:33Five. Five, yeah.
21:35What, all this year? Yeah.
21:37It's a lot, innit? Yeah, so you want to give her a break, yeah?
21:40I ask how long he can expect to go on fixing races without being caught.
21:45Isn't that just a matter of time?
21:47Well, it's been ten years since I've been caught.
21:52Yet I've been told that the GBGB were repeatedly warned
21:56in the last two years that some dogs at Wimbledon
21:59showed signs of having been drugged.
22:01You were a trainer at Wimbledon.
22:03What did you know about race-fixing?
22:05I thought there was something odd going on,
22:08but I thought it was actually under control with the GBGB.
22:13So you had suspicions? I had suspicions, yes.
22:15And did you tell the GBGB? Yes, I did. Yes, yes.
22:18So you flagged it up to them? Yes, I did.
22:20You said that they thought there was something rotten there.
22:22Yes, I did. Yes, yes.
22:24And others before me did as well. Others of my members did.
22:29We showed our footage to Eric Martlew,
22:32who back in 2006 investigated the greyhound industry
22:35on behalf of Parliament.
22:38Well, it's been ten years since I've been caught.
22:41What are the implications from what he's saying?
22:44The implications are that dogs
22:48are being damaged for people to make money.
22:53Apart from the moral aspects of rigging races
22:56and the criminal aspects of defrauding people,
23:00there is a serious animal welfare issue here.
23:05Two days after last seeing Chris Mosdall, I'm back at Wimbledon.
23:11This is the day that Chris Mosdall thinks
23:13is going to be the payday for our dog.
23:16It's the first time since we've actually had ownership of this dog
23:20that he's going to run it without drugs in its system
23:23and he thinks it's going to make both us and him quite a lot of money.
23:27But what he doesn't know is that we've tipped off
23:30the greyhound board of Great Britain.
23:32Chris Mosdall's race-fixing has gone on long enough.
23:36Our dog, Tico Foods, is in trap two in the 7.45 race
23:41and is tipped in the programme to come third.
23:45Chris Mosdall thinks she'll do better than that.
23:50The GBGB have sent two investigating officers to the track.
23:59When the 7.45 race starts,
24:02Tico Foods is in the lead.
24:04When the 7.45 race starts,
24:06Tico Foods' trap, number two,
24:09is empty.
24:11The officials have pulled our dog.
24:17Six days later, the GBGB tested eight dogs
24:20in Chris Mosdall's care for drugs.
24:22Six were negative.
24:24Two, Penny Swan and Tico Foods,
24:27tested positive for cyclozine.
24:30The owner of Penny Swan has told Panorama
24:33that he was disappointed to discover
24:35that his dog had tested positive for a banned substance
24:38and that he had no reason to believe
24:40there was anything unusual about any of his greyhounds
24:43in Mr Mosdall's care.
24:45And it seems Tico Foods may not have been Chris Mosdall's
24:48to sell in the first place.
24:50The real owner says he never gave him permission to do so,
24:53had had no recent dealings with him
24:55and knew nothing of the drugging.
24:57Chris Mosdall is now suspended,
24:59awaiting a GBGB disciplinary hearing.
25:03The question is, what will his punishment be?
25:08I've been unable to find a single case
25:10where the trainer of a dog which has tested positive for cyclozine
25:14has been given more than a £300 fine
25:17and a reprimand by the GBGB.
25:21The GBGB does conduct drug tests
25:23and they do find illicit substances in dogs,
25:26such as beta blockers to make them go slower
25:29or steroids to build them up
25:31or cocaine to make them go faster.
25:34For those that are caught,
25:36the GBGB has a sliding scale of punishments.
25:39But I've analysed their published data
25:41and for doping offences,
25:43only 11 people were banned from holding licences
25:46for the three-year period between 2011 and 2013.
25:54Some of the sentencing seems remarkably lenient.
25:57This man, John Mullins,
25:59has now been pulled up on disciplinary charges
26:02four times in 12 years
26:04after his dogs tested positive for various drugs
26:07including cocaine and amphetamines.
26:10Yet he's never had his licence taken away.
26:13And neither has this woman, Tony Tungert,
26:16whose dogs have also tested positive for drugs
26:19four times in 14 years,
26:21including steroids twice.
26:24Both trainers told Panorama
26:26they deny ever doping their dogs.
26:30The GBGB said that sanctions were decided
26:33by an independent disciplinary committee or appeal board
26:36and not by the GBGB itself.
26:39In four cases it investigated involving cyclozine,
26:42the GBGB said there was no evidence of abnormal betting.
26:47Christophe, who has been a member of the GBGB,
26:50said there was no evidence of abnormal betting.
26:53Chris Mosdahl has told us
26:55that he treats his dogs with love and care
26:58and that he would never do anything to harm them.
27:01He said he regretted the admissions he'd made
27:04and that he'd only been trying to convince me
27:07that he could give my dog an advantage.
27:09The GBGB told Panorama
27:11that in the last two years
27:13greyhounds connected to Mr Mosdahl
27:15were tested 55 times.
27:17Mosdahl was positive and he was cautioned.
27:21The owner of TECO Foods has decided to retire her.
27:27But what about the industry's future?
27:35After the scandal eight years ago,
27:37the government said the sport
27:39was drinking in the last chance saloon.
27:43But in many areas
27:45the sport is about to continue regulating itself.
27:49I think we've given them a chance.
27:51I think we've given self-regulation a chance.
27:54I think we're seeing that it's not working.
27:57The government is preparing to review existing legislation
28:00relating to greyhound welfare.
28:02But with precious little of the sport's money
28:05reaching the people who care day to day for the dogs,
28:08is the status quo sustainable?
28:10What's the future for greyhound racing?
28:13If we carry on the way we are,
28:15there is none. None at all.
28:17Absolutely nothing.
28:21The Greyhound Board of Great Britain
28:23says it has full and comprehensive rules
28:26which stand up to comparison
28:28with any other regulated sport.
28:33Yet questions remain
28:35about the integrity of races
28:37and the welfare of greyhounds
28:39on which the industry and its profits depend.
28:43MUSIC
28:54Coming up at ten,
28:55a schoolboy jailed for life for the murder of his teacher.
28:58Anne Maguire is thought to be the first teacher
29:01to be killed in a British classroom.
29:03Her killer, 16-year-old Will Cornick,
29:05has shown no remorse.
29:06The full story in an hour.
29:09A few familiar faces next
29:11in Gareth's All-Star Choir.