The arrest of 16 people, including champion jockey Kieren Fallon, in an investigation into horse race fixing is clearly very embarrassing for the sport.
No-one has been convicted, but Fallon is the six-times champion jockey and the outstanding rider of his generation.
It's bad news for racing if punters lose confidence because they think the sport is corrupt.
There is no doubt these are headlines that racing could do without.
This huge operation has been co-ordinated by City of London police, who describe it as "a matter of national significance".
It is true that racing touches people in different ways and that's why this investigation will have a far-reaching impact.
The fact is something like 14m bets a week are struck, and if any races have been fixed, there are major repercussions.
What has happened is that a betting exchange called Betfair, went to the Jockey Club, last Christmas time and said: "Look at this evidence."
The Jockey Club, racing's regulator, looked at the races in question and decided it was serious enough for them to go to the City of London police.
I understand a formal investigation has been under way since February.
This is not the first time racing has been investigated in this way. There were equally dramatic developments in January 1999 when jockeys were arrested but all charges were later dropped.
Senior figures in racing will be keen to put this in perspective. They will point to the fact that we are talking about an investigation into 80 races out of something like a total of 14,000 over the same period.
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No-one is claiming that hardly an hour goes by without a race being fixed. But there is a feeling within the racing community that if there is corruption, and the Jockey Club and the police can do something about it, then that has to be good news.
And the Jockey Club will say that if there's a problem, and they can root it out, then they have to be given credit for it.
In the same way, organisers of the Athens Olympics will say the fact that they found more drugs cheats than ever before simply demonstrates how well the system catches people.
I understand that what the Jockey Club is saying is that 10 years ago they weren't so good at this, and maybe because of outside pressures, they've had to pull up their socks.
Paul Scotney, the new head of security at the Jockey Club, is a former police chief superintendent.
This is a proper copper who has busted cocaine rings in the past.
I think this is going to be seen as him really making his mark as he's got such good links with the police.
MMIX
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Racing in the dock
