Graham Bradley was a professional horse racer and a member of the National Hunt Jockey Club. On November 29, 2002 he was banned from the Club for breaking six of its rules.[1]
Career
Throughout his career, Bradley had many horseracing wins[2] including: riding Bregawn – Michael Dickinson’s Cheltenham Gold Cup (1983) winner,[3] the Champion Hurdle on Collier Bay (1996)[4] and the Grand National Hennessy Gold Cup (1997).[5]
Following his ban from the Club, Bradley set out to become a horseracing trainer, but he abandoned this plan in 2015.[6]
Winning horses
Since his retirement in 1999[7] Bradley has purchased a few champion horses. Seebald won seven races before finishing second in the Irish Independent Arkle Challenge Trophy[8] at the Cheltenham Festival in 2002.
Controversy
Bradley has received various punishments over the years including:
- 1982: withdrawal of license for two months due to bet placement at Cartmel,[9]
- 1987: banned for five months under the "non-triers" rule after a race at Market Rasen,[10]
- 1987: fined £2,500 for trying to end the race at the Cheltenham Gold Cup, anticipating unfavorable conditions for Forgive 'N' Forget,[11]
- 1988: heavily fined alongside Geoff Harker due to missing both a fence and an entire circuit at the Sedgefield races[12]
- 1996: pulled up Man Mood, the odds-on favourite, in a race at Warwick,[13]
- 1999: Jockey Club licence suspension[14] and racehorse access restricted following the Metropolitan Police’s charge against him. The charges were filed against him on April 13, 1999 due to the incident in 1996.[15] Two months later this was rescinded by Crown Prosecution Service which withdrew the charges against him since the original charge was subject to review.[16] The rules he broke were: 204 (iv), Rule 62(ii)(c), Rule 220(vii)(b), Rule 220(viii) Rule 220(iii) and Rule 140.[17]
Throughout the 1990's, an investigation into Bradley's actions occurred due to concerns about race fixing. These events were what led to his retirement.[18] In 2014, Bradley was cleared of charges alleging he was training horses under the name of Brendan Powell.[19] In 2019, Irish authorities allowed Bradley to register as a racehorse owner.[20] Marchons Ensemble came second in his name.[21] Bradley has been referred to as “one of racing’s most controversial characters".[22]
Publications
The Wayward Lad was a Ghost-written autobiography on him by Steve Taylor.[23]