The jockey son of a former champion Melbourne rider has been banned for 13 years after he made his horses lose to rake in huge illegal gambling profits.
Michael Poy, 25, was handed the long disqualification – which has almost certainly ended his racing career – by the Victorian Racing Tribunal on Thursday.
Poy, son of former top Victorian jockey Michael Clarke, was key to a sophisticated punting scam with others including former apprentice jockey, Lewis German.
The pair were hooked in with disgraced professional punter Noah Brash who plotted together to make money on ‘lay bets’, a type of betting where punters take on the role of bookie and back a horse to lose.
The sinister trio used burner phones, fake names, encrypted messaging and third-party ‘bowler’ betting accounts.
The crooks’ aim was for Poy and German to ensure their mounts lost so the gang could make easy profits.
The scam was wildly successful, landing them a $350,000 windfall from more than $2.5million in bets laid between April 2022 and August 2022, the tribunal was told.
Brash offered inflated odds on betting goliath Betfair, an online bookie known for enabling punters to use the controversial lay bet system.
Michael Poy (pictured) after winning the listed G H Mumm Century Stakes aboard Ancestry (horse pictured) at Flemington on Oaks Day on November 5, 2020
Poy (pictured green silks) was involved in a sophisticated punting scam
The tribunal heard Brash offered $15 odds on a horse priced at $8 elsewhere which gamblers jumped on, but then Poy and German ensured the horse lost – and the duped punters lost their cash.
In just one race, the trio scored $18,000 in less than two minutes after betting on a low-level country Victorian event on August 7, 2022.
German ensured his mount American Russ lost, while Poy had to make sure his horse Mr Scofield finished ahead of German’s to allow Brash to collect on a ‘head-to-head’ bet.
Brash laid 135 bets in total on horses ridden by Poy and German and only two lost.
Former AFL football boss Adrian Anderson, a prominent lawyer representing Racing Victoria stewards, told the tribunal the conduct was ‘not thoughtless, careless or even reckless’.
‘It was a deliberate, elaborate scheme designed to avoid detection by the use of secret messaging with the use of secret phones and code names,’ Mr Anderson said.
‘It was only through the careless act of Mr Brash that the offending was uncovered.’
The gang’s plot unravelled after stewards discovered screenshots of encrypted messages on Brash’s phone.
Former apprentice jockey Lewis German(pictured) was ‘vital to the whole crooked operation’
Poy’s dad Michael Clarke was most famous for winning the Cox Plate and the Japan Cup on champion Aussie horse Better Loosen Up in 1990 (pictured here with trainer David Hayes)
The screenshots revealed bets in which Poy outlined the races, horses and amounts to be wagered including ‘Race 3, lay the 1 for 70/80 (thousand)’ , ‘Have 10K on mine to beat his H2H (head to head)’ and ‘Race 8, lay the 2, 80k’.
Poy initially denied any involvement but investigators used data from Optus and Crown Casino which placed the jockey and the burner phone together at the same time.
Tribunal chair Judge John Bowman said Poy had ‘wilfully engaged in behaviour that strikes at the very heart of the racing industry, that is its integrity, both real and perceived’.
‘Conduct such as yours has the capacity to inflict great damage upon the image of racing and public confidence in its integrity,’ Judge Bowman said.
‘It risks creating in the minds of some people that ‘the game is rigged.’
Brash, who ran online tipping service Cannon, and Poy became close mates when the jockey was 18 and German was hooked in due to his friendship with Poy.
The tribunal heard evidence Poy was ‘the key player’ and ‘link man’ in the treacherous plot.
Poy ‘directed and co-ordinated’ bets by sending encrypted messages on burner phones using the alias ‘Leo’.
Brash was codenamed ‘Blue Bull’ during the clandestine communications.
Poy, who won 350 races after leaving school to become and apprentice jockey, was disqualified for 13 years and six months while Brash has been ‘warned off’ race tracks for 10 years.
Ceolwulf (ridden here by Chad Schofield) will be a main player in the upcoming Championships at Randwick
Judge Bowman said German, 27, was ‘vital to the whole crooked operation’ before last month handing him a ten-year suspension.
‘You were involved in a large scale operation, with very big profits resulting from horses ridden by you not being allowed to race on their merits,’ Judge Bowman said.
‘Indeed, you were not only involved, you were central and vital to the whole crooked operation.
‘You did this in the expectation of being paid considerable amounts of money, although you claim that essentially this had not occurred as at the time that the operation ceased.’
German barely achieved anything in racing but Poy’s best win came aboard Ancestry in the listed G H Mumm Century Stakes at Flemington on Oaks Day on November 5, 2020.
The disgraced jockey’s famous dad Michael Clarke was far more successful on the racetrack, winning the Victorian jockey’s premiership four times.
Treasurethe Moment ridden here by Damian Lane is headed for big things
Clarke was most famous for winning the Cox Plate and the Japan Cup on champion Aussie horse Better Loosen Up in 1990.
Clarke also won the 1986 Melbourne Cup on At Talaq.
The disqualifications and bad publicity comes as the Championships Carnival at Sydney’s Randwick kicks off Saturday with classics the Doncaster Mile and The TJ Smith Stakes – also known as the Cox Plate for sprinters.
Many of Australia’s best horses including Ceolwulf, Via Sistina, Autumn Glow and Treasurethe Moment will be competing for Group 1 glory and massive prize money.
UK champion Dubai Honour will also be competing in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on April 12.
Poy, German and Brash will be taking no part in the three-week showcase carnival.