John Dance

Former leading owner John Dance has appeared in court to deny taking more than £64 million from wealth management fund clients for himself. The 50-year-old businessman, who lives in Murton Village, Newcastle, pleaded not guilty to nine criminal charges including fraud by abuse of position, fraud by false misrepresentation and money laundering. The alleged offences cover the period from February 2014 until March 2023. Dance, once a part-time DJ and former nightclub owner, was the principal partner at wealth management fund Vertus Asset Management, which later became the firm WealthTek....

Racehorse owner John Dance has been charged with nine criminal offences in "one of the most serious and largest frauds ever investigated" by the UK's financial regulator. Dance is accused by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of transferring more than £64 million from client accounts of a wealth management firm to fund his "lavish lifestyle" and business interests between 2014 and 2023. The 50-year-old was principal partner at WealthTek LLP, formerly known as Vertem Asset Management LLP, a prominent sponsor within racing. He also owned the multiple Group 1 winner...

Danny O'Donovan described first-season sire King Of Change as his 'hero of the year' after the young consignor topped the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale at 180,000gns with a filly by the Starfield Stud-based stallion.  King Of Change may have emerged as something of the surprise package from the breeze-up circuit so far but O'Donovan has never been afraid to push his chest out when it comes to the capabilities of the Group 1-winning miler and was duly rewarded when Oliver St Lawrence signed for the filly who posted one of...

Wednesday provided a taste of what might be to come at the Tattersalls Guineas Sale when a Kingman (GB) filly from the John Dance dispersal sold for 130,000gns to Alex Elliott and Billy Jackson-Stops on behalf of powerful owners Valmont and Michael Blencowe. Over 50 horses connected to Dance's Coverdale Stud and Titanium Racing Club will be auctioned at this week's Guineas Sale and, while Elliott admitted that the condition with which some of the horses were presented was less than ideal, the Kingman filly's quality shone through.  Dance, the...

Over 50 horses connected to John Dance's Coverdale Stud and Titanium Racing Club will provide an extra smattering of interest to the horses-in-training section of the two-day Tattersalls Guineas Sale, which kicks off on Wednesday. First Ambition (GB) (lot 151), an Invincible Spirit colt out of Dance's six-time Group 1 winner Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), will spearhead the draft that is being offered by The Castlebridge Consignment.  Dance was arrested almost a year ago and is involved in an ongoing Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigation into allegations of fraud and...

First Ambition (GB), a colt by Invincible Spirit (Ire) and the first foal of the six-time Group 1 winner Laurens (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}), is among a sizeable number of horses owned by John Dance's Coverdale Stud to be catalogued within the Castlebridge Consignment draft for an extended Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-up and Horses-in-Training Sale.  A record number of 195 lots in the horses-in-training section means that the auction will now start with an evening session on Wednesday, May 1 at 5pm. The sale continues on Thursday morning at 9.30am with the...

After parting ways with owner John Dance, conditioner James Horton will return to Newmarket to begin training next term on his own. When leading chaser Bravemansgame (Fr) (Brave Mansonnien {Fr})--co-owned by Dance--was barred from running in the Aintree Grand National meeting early this year, the horse was later allowed to continue his career when Bryan Drew took sole ownership. Dance's other horses, most with Horton, were cleared to run, though under different names, in May but with the announcement Monday of "further concerns coming to light", another interim stop had...

The British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has confirmed that horses under the ownership of John Dance will now be permitted to run in the name of Coverdale Stud and Titanium Racing Club "with a view to supporting the welfare of the horses and the livelihoods of the staff impacted by the investigation". Dance's company WealthTek LLP was ordered to cease training in early April and is currently under investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which has agreed to money being made available for the training and racing of the owner's...

Vertem Asset Management, the company that sponsors the G1 Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, has been ordered to immediately cease carrying on all regulated activities by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A 48-year-old man was arrested and questioned under caution in connection with the move the authority took "following serious regulatory and operational issues coming to light". Vertem, which trades under WealthTek LLP, was founded in 2010 by prominent racehorse owner John Dance, whose colours were carried by a number of high-profile horses, including multiple Group 1 winner Laurens (Fr) and...

The first major yearling sale of the autumn in Britain or Ireland, the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale provided entertainment from the beginning to the end, but most importantly, boasted impressive figures. Brian Sheerin was in attendance and discusses the major talking points from the sale. Figures on the up The team at Goffs UK could hardly have wished for a better start to the Premier Yearling Sale. The day one figures were off the charts. Of the 218 lots offered on Tuesday, 199 were sold, representing a clearance rate...

DONCASTER, UK--The desire of John Dance to develop Manor House Stud into a major force was well on show during the first day of the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale in Doncaster yesterday as the owner came out on top at £120,000 for the session-topper (lot 109), a well-related son of Dark Angel (Ire). While the day's ceiling was a far cry from the record high of £440,000 achieved in 2019 by the Kingman (GB) colt Admiral Nelson (GB), no one could dispute the vibrancy of a trade that wound...

DONCASTER, UK--Look, we all know to refrain from any bold pronouncements in such an uncertain world. But the same market that was last year first to be broadsided by the pandemic has now made consecutive statements: first one of cautious optimism and now, remarkably, one of record-breaking confidence. For if we left Newmarket last week reminding ourselves that a single swallow does not a summer make, then flight after flight seemed to fill the air at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale. Whatever the ups and downs that inevitably still await,...