TYNESIDE tycoon Graham Wylie has told how he is standing by his racehorse trainer Howard Johnson as he faces a ban from the sport.

Howard Johnson, who trains the Close House Hotel owner’s horses near Crook, County Durham, faces nine charges before the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) over horse welfare and doping.

The 57-year-old veteran trainer – who has held a trainer’s licence since 1986 – is charged with running Striking Article eight times after the horse had a palmar neurectomy – an operation which severs or removes leg nerves which leaves the horse unaware of any possible pain. Together with charges connected to administering steroids to three of his other horses, a guilty verdict could lead to a lengthy ban, but Mr Johnson and Mr Wylie must wait until this Wednesday to learn the verdict.

It had been suggested that Mr Wylie was preempting a long ban from the BHA after it emerged he had sent six horses to champion trainer Paul Nicholls.

Last night, however, he revealed the two incidents are not connected.

The 51-year-old, who owns IT firm TSG, said: “Sending the horses to Paul Nicholls has nothing to do with the BHA inquiry. I made that decision with Howard at the end of the season.

“We decided that there were a number of horses which would have been so highly handicapped in a high price race that it wouldn’t be fair to the horses to race them in the North, so we agreed that these six had to race down south.

“It’s a long trek from Crook to Sandown, Newbury or Kempton Park so that’s the only reason why they are down there – so they can run in large races down south.”

The father-of-four from Jesmond revealed he and Mr Johnson have been speaking on a daily basis as the BHA inquiry draws to a conclusion, discussing contingency plans should the trainer be subjected to a lengthy ban.