BHA Releases Top Secret Documents to Investigators Investigating the Mysterious Deaths of Legendary Jockeys Geoff Lewis and Tommie Jakes, Opening Up Unprecedented Questions That Have Sent the Global Horse Racing Industry into a Tailspin
In a stunning development that has rocked the foundations of British horseracing, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has handed over a trove of classified documents to a special investigative team probing the deaths of two prominent jockeys: the legendary Geoff Lewis, who passed away in August at the age of 89, and the promising young apprentice Tommie Jakes, found dead at his home just last week at 19.
The release, confirmed late Friday by BHA acting chief executive Brant Dunshea, marks the first time such sensitive files—spanning decades of medical records, performance logs, and internal correspondence—have been declassified in the sport’s history. Sources close to the inquiry describe the documents as a “Pandora’s box,” revealing inconsistencies that could unravel long-held assumptions about the safety and integrity of racing’s human participants.
Geoff Lewis, a Welsh icon whose 1971 Epsom Derby victory aboard the immortal Mill Reef cemented his status as one of the sport’s greats, died on August 26 after a brief illness in a care home near Epsom. At the time, tributes poured in from across the racing world, celebrating his 1,880 British winners, five Classics, and a seamless transition to training nearly 500 more victors, including the sprint sensation Lake Coniston. Friends and colleagues, like trainer Simon Dow, recalled him as the “last of the old Epsom generation,” a larger-than-life figure whose roots in a family of 13 traced back to a pageboy job at the Waldorf Hotel before Tim Molony spotted his potential.
Official reports listed natural causes, tied to his advancing years, but whispers of foul play emerged almost immediately among those who knew him best. Lewis had been vocal in retirement about the sport’s evolving pressures—doping scandals, grueling schedules, and the mental toll on riders—complaints that, according to leaked memos in the new files, drew quiet threats from unnamed stakeholders.
The documents paint a picture of a man who never fully retired from the fray. One sealed report from 2019 details Lewis’s consultation with BHA officials over “anomalous blood tests” from his final training days, hinting at exposure to unregulated substances circulating in European stables. Another file, dated 2023, references anonymous tips about “retaliatory actions” against whistleblowers, with Lewis’s name circled in red ink.
Investigators now believe his “brief illness” may have masked acute poisoning, corroborated by toxicology anomalies that were dismissed as age-related decay. “Geoff wasn’t just a winner; he was a guardian of the game’s soul,” said former rival Lester Piggott in a rare post-release statement. “If these papers are true, we’ve failed him—and everyone who rides for a living.”
The plot thickened with Tommie Jakes’s death on October 30, a tragedy that struck like lightning in Newmarket’s tight-knit weighing room. The 19-year-old apprentice, attached to George Boughey’s yard, had notched 59 career winners, including 19 this season, with a flair that evoked early-day Lester or Frankie Dettori. His last ride came at Nottingham the day before, guiding Ismail Mohammed’s Guarantee to a respectable seventh in a juvenile maiden. Hours later, Suffolk Police responded to a 5:45 a.m. call at his Freckenham family home, pronouncing him dead on arrival. Initial statements from the Injured Jockeys Fund and Professional Jockeys Association described it as a “sudden tragedy,” urging support for his loved ones. Trainers like Linda Perratt, who gave him 17 winners from 169 rides and called herself his “second mother,” were shattered: “He was the future, bright as a summer dawn.”
But the BHA files, spanning Jakes’s meteoric rise from his 2023 debut win on Suzi’s Connoisseur at Lingfield, expose a darker undercurrent. Encrypted emails reveal Jakes confided in a BHA counselor about “unwanted advances” from a high-profile owner, coupled with pressure to “look the other way” during a suspicious barn raid at Boughey’s yard. A 2025 veterinary log, redacted until now, flags irregular heart rhythms in horses Jakes rode—patterns eerily similar to those in Lewis’s era, suggesting a persistent contaminant in feed or tack.
One explosive attachment includes Jakes’s frantic voice note from October 25: “They’re watching me. Told me to drop it or else.” Was it paranoia from the cutthroat apprentice circuit, or a targeted silencing? Forensic experts, granted access post-release, are re-examining his autopsy for traces of the same neurotoxin flagged in Lewis’s case—a synthetic opioid not typically screened in routine checks.
The global horse racing industry, already reeling from a spate of equine fatalities and doping busts, has descended into chaos. Shares in major tracks like Ascot and Churchill Downs dipped 8% overnight, as sponsors from Rolex to Emirates issued cautious statements pending clarity. In the U.S., the Jockeys’ Guild demanded reciprocal disclosures from the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, citing parallels to the 2019
Santa Anita breakdowns that killed 30 horses and exposed performance-enhancing drugs. Australian Racing Integrity Commission chair Franzika Kubitscheck warned of “contagion risks,” halting cross-border licenses until audits clear. Even in Japan, where Lewis once thrilled crowds with guest rides, JRA officials convened emergency sessions, fearing echoes of their own 2022 scandal involving tainted supplements.
At the BHA’s London headquarters, Dunshea faced a barrage of questions Saturday, defending the release as “a moral imperative for transparency.” Yet critics, including PJA head Paul Struthers, accuse the authority of foot-dragging: “These files gathered dust for years. Why now, after two lives lost?” Conspiracy theories proliferate online— from a shadowy cartel peddling black-market steroids to cover-ups tied to billionaire owners hedging bets via insider sabotage. Racing Post columnist Tom Segal likened it to “Watergate on horseback,” predicting congressional hearings in Washington and EU probes in Brussels.
As investigators sift through 2,000 pages, the human cost sharpens into focus. Lewis’s widow, Jenny, broke her silence: “He died fighting for what was right—fair play, clean air in the lungs of our horses and riders.” Jakes’s mother, tearfully clutching his silks, added, “My boy dreamed of the Derby, not this nightmare.”
The tailspin shows no signs of slowing; Breeders’ Cup qualifiers were postponed in Kentucky, and Newmarket’s November sales buzz has soured into boycotts. For a sport built on thunderous hooves and unyielding grit, these revelations force a reckoning: How deep does the rot run, and can racing gallop free? The answer, buried in those secret sheaves, could redefine legacies—or bury them forever.
