Promising conditional rider Christy McGrath has been remanded in custody, charged with murder, after an incident in which a man was found dead in a pub garden on Monday.
The 23-year-old, who is attached to Norman Mason's stable, appeared before magistrates in Newton Aycliffe today and was remanded until next Wednesday, July 26.
Gary Walton, a 37-year-old former apprentice with Newcastle United in the late 1970s and early 1980s, suffered fatal head injuries.
His body was found at the rear of the Miner's Arms in Coundon, near where he lived with his wife and daughters.
A Durham Constabulary spokesman said the 37-year-old father of two was identified by his fingerprints.
Christopher Martin McGrath, who lives near Mason's yard in Brancepeth, County Durham, had two winners from a total of 22 rides this year.
His most recent winning ride came on May 17 at Perth when he took the Black Bottle Conditional Jockeys' Selling Handicap Hurdle on James The First for Edwin Tuer.
He had joined Mason towards the end of last year, having enjoyed a four-year spell with Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle during which he rode in a handful of bumpers and also in point-to-points. -PA-
