A TOP jockey has been sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of a hit and run.
Ken Shino had more than 2,500 winners in an illustrious career that saw him record on-track earnings of more than £18.6million.
Shino has been given the maximum six years in prison over the hit and run
But his reputation has been left in tatters after a jury found he drove into and injured a pedestrian before fleeing the scene.
According to the Hot Springs Sentinel-Record, jurors deliberated for just over an hour before finding Shino guilty of leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury or death.
They conferred for another hour before recommending the maximum six-year sentence and £8,000 ($10,000) fine.
The incident took place in Arkansas, US, on Valentine’s Day 2021.
Shino is said to have turned himself into cops on December 7 that year after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He was later released the same day after posting £8,000 bail and pleaded not guilty to the charge on April 18, 2022.
During the trial, Shino’s attorney filed a motion to dismiss.
He claimed the victim was ‘intoxicated’ at the time of the hit and was found to have returned a ‘presumptive positive test for cannabinoids upon drug testing performed at the hospital’.
Deputy prosecutor Brock Price said Shino did not make a statement to the police after his arrest and did not testify at his trial.
He said the defence was that while it was Shino’s truck and he was driving, ‘he did not hit the victim’.
But Price produced video making it clear Shino did cause the impact.
Police later a found a vehicle matching the one seen in the footage in a public car park.
Shino was identified as the owner of the truck and detectives determined from the video that he was the person driving the truck at the time of the incident.
The victim suffered ‘skull and facial fractures, intracranial haemorrhaging and some contusions and abrasions’, but has on the whole ‘healed up’.
Shino’s best season in the saddle came in 2003 when he won just shy of £1.5m.
He set a record when banging in seven straight winners at Fonner Park racecourse in 2000 and in 2020 was inducted into the Nebraska Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame.