Greg Fairley

Greg Fairley is a former Group 1-winning Scottish jockey, who was British flat racing Champion Apprentice in 2007.

He began riding on the low-level "flapping" circuit in the Scottish Borders, where his father Andrew had ridden more than 600 winners. From there, he joined the Mark Johnston stable in Middleham, Yorkshire in 2004, and his parents moved with him. He had been at school with Keith Dalgleish and it was he who helped him to settle in and establish himself.^[1]

He became Champion Apprentice in 2007 with 65 winners, beating Liam Jones and William Buick in the process. In 2009, his yearly tally reached a personal high of 85 winners and the following year, he won his first Group 1 success on Lady Jane Digby in the Bayerisches Zuchtrennen the following year.^[1]

Soon after, his career began to derail. First, a row between his mother (also his agent) and Johnston, led to him leaving the stable. As a result, he managed only 21 winners in 2011. Then in May, he was charged by the British Horseracing Authority of being in breach of their corruption rules. In December of that year, he and fellow jockeys Paul Doe, Kirsty Milczarek and Jimmy Quinn were banned after the charges were upheld. He and Doe were found guilty of the most serious offence - not riding a horse to its merits - and were each banned for 12 years for offences relating to 10 races between 17 January and 15 August 2009. Fairley had already handed in his licence in October, having only ridden 4 winners since the charges were brought.^[1] Fairley did not attend his hearing. ^[2]

During the investigation, Fairley had made use of the Jockeys Employment and Training Scheme to retrain in forestry, and is believed to have returned to Scotland to pursue that career.^[3] He also returned to flapping riding, which does not come under the BHA's auspices, and won a race in his hometown of Hawick the following June.^[4]