Ex-trainer who 'dishonestly' kept prize-money from staff ordered to pay money back

Brian Barr: the former trainer failed to distribute pool money to staff

A trainer who kept prize-money which was meant for his stable staff has been ordered to pay it back by a BHA independent disciplinary panel.

Brian Barr trained for 12 years until quitting in August 2023, telling the Racing Post he had received death threats in the wake of Hillsin, the horse at the centre of a separate ongong BHA investigation, briefly moved to his yard.

Barr sent out 64 winners over jumps and on the Flat from a base in Dorset.

Barr entered into a plea agreement with the BHA under which he accepted he had failed to pay a total of £2,704.04 in pool money to assistant Daisy Hitchins, who now trains at the yard, and two other staff last year.

He agreed to repay the full amount of the pool money in instalments, which the BHA would distribute. Any missed payments could result in the imposition of an exclusion order.

As a penalty he would not be eligible to apply for a trainer’s licence for 12 months and not before the money has been repaid.

The BHA said this would replace a £2,500 fine to recognise Barr’s “financial difficulties, mental health struggles, and other mitigating circumstances as well as his cooperation”.

The panel approved the agreement, stating it was “a well realised and entirely appropriate penalty in the circumstances of the case”.

But it expressed concern about the “seriousness of dishonest behaviour by the respondent that leaves others without money to which they are entitled”.

It ordered Barr to pay the first monthly instalment from November 2024, warning, “If Mr Barr fails to make an on-time payment in keeping with this payment plan and does not provide the BHA with a satisfactory reason for his failure to make an on-time payment, the BHA may apply to the Judicial Panel to seek an order of exclusion against Mr Barr on this basis."