Fabrice Vermuelen was having a good year until the French racing authorities stepped in.

He was second only to J-C Rouget in prize money but will now be out of racing for at least three months as three months of his sentence will only be applied after 5 years.

It seems that he has been in involved with a dodgy ownership entity that was barred in 2020 but has been operating under another person associated with Vermuelen.  All came apart when he sent a claim for non-payment of fees and it was found that the invoices didn't add up:  someone who was billed for 75% of a horse was supposed to own 100%.  Oh dear! 

Three of his runners -Alisburg Bilberry, Machu Pichu and Rising Star are banned while most of the other 14 runners involved have either retired or been sold on.