Report: Scandalized U.K. horse owner Richardson dies at 84

Ken Richardson, a U.K. businessman and horse owner who was at the center of a major racing scandal in the 1980s, died at age 84.

As Racing Post reported, Richardson entered a purportedly unraced 2-year-old named Flockton Grey in his debut in 1982 at Leicester, where he won by 20 lengths. It turned out that the horse was a 3-year-old named Good Hand.

At 10-1 odds, Richardson stood to win about $350,000 at the exchange rate at the time, according to the report, but bookmakers refused to pay.

In 1984, Richardson was convicted of conspiracy to defraud, fined about $28,000 and $35,000 in costs and given a suspended nine-month sentence.

He claimed he was innocent but lost an appeal and was suspended from racing for 25 years.

Richardson also was chairman of the Doncaster Rovers football team, and he was jailed in the 1990s for plotting to burn down the team’s stadium.