Police on Thursday arrested a jockey and a trainer on suspicion of receiving 140,000 yen in bribes from a former company president in return for leaking information about horses at Kawasaki Racecourse in Kanagawa Prefecture, police said.
Jockey Jun Suzuki, 29, and trainer Kiyoshi Sato, 35, are suspected of receiving 80,000 yen and 60,000 yen in cash respectively last September from Etsuo Tomita, 46, of Chiba Prefecture in exchange for information about the condition of racehorses and their predictions about winners in four races, police said.
Tomita was also arrested Thursday. The three admitted to bribery charges, police sources said. Tomita told investigators the information he obtained from the two did not actually help him win any money.
In addition to the 140,000 yen, investigators suspect Tomita offered several hundred thousand yen to Suzuki and about 1 million yen to Sato in connection with the races.
The Horse Race Law stipulates prison terms of up to five years for trainers and jockeys who take bribes in return for disclosing information prior to races.
Communications between jockeys and outsiders are normally limited before races, but Suzuki and Sato contacted Tomita by cellular phone, police said.
Suzuki, who debuted as a jockey in 1991, had won 88 races by last March. Sato became a trainer after quitting as a jockey the same month.