BHA action over Deva Racing
The BHA has put a stop to entries and declarations for horses owned by a popular racing syndicate after members complained they had not been paid.
The Deva Racing Syndicate has a dozen horses in training in stables in Britain, the US and Dubai, managed by Ryan Tongue, who as a teenager served tea to 20-champion jockey Sir AP McCoy when he worked in the Worcester weighing room. Tongue, 30, has worked in a number of roles in racing, briefly as a jockey and then as a racing manager when he was involved in the purchase of dual Grand National winner I Am Maximus for the late owner Michael Grech. Seven years ago he took over Deva Racing, whose flagship horse Imperial Emperor brought the syndicate to national attention through his exploits in Dubai.
The gelding, who was bought from Godolphin for £63,000 and put into training with local champion trainer Bhupat Seemar, has been transformed into a dirt performer.
He has won five of his eight starts for Seemar and earned a start in the last two runnings of the Dubai World Cup, one of the world’s richest races. After two victories, including at Group 1 level during the latest carnival and a fourth place in the World Cup, his winnings have risen to nearly £1.5 million.
However attempts by syndicate members to secure their share of the prize-money from his latest campaign have been unsuccessful and as a result the problems have been brought to the attention of the BHA.
One of the members, Tom Walton from Leeds, who works for a Manchester law firm, told Mirror Racing:
“We have uncovered the overselling of shares and ultimately Ryan has kept prize-money. “I got paid roughly £7,000 last year but I do know of one syndicate member who got nothing. We’ve not received any prize-money from this season when the horse won £760,000. “The last response I had from Ryan was on June 19 which said he wouldn’t be speaking to me, only to another member Mark. Ryan then blocked me and Mark is getting no response too. “The BHA gave him a deadline and he told them he would endeavour to pay within 60 days but he was currently experiencing ill-health.”
In April, Walton discovered that Imperial Emperor had been entered in an online auction in Dubai without his knowledge. The gelding was withdrawn from the sale and the 20 original owning members subsequently completed a deal to buy the horse.
Walton said:
“I wouldn’t want this experience to put anyone off getting involved in racing. Ryan and Deva are certainly outliers. The shining light is we’ve still got the horse and we can run him next season. “I’ve kind of written the money off but what I want is to make sure that Ryan and Deva don’t have any involvement in racing again. “I am presently a part owner in a syndicate run by My Future Champion. They’re a great outfit and I don’t want this experience to stain the whole syndicate world when there’s one like them around.”
A spokesperson for the BHA said
“We can confirm that the BHA has put a stop on entries and declarations being made for Deva Racing Syndicate horses trained in Britain. We encourage any concerned syndicate members to contact the BHA on intel@britishhorseracing.com. We will be making no further comment regarding this matter at this time.”
Ryan Tongue has been approached for comment.
