A disciplinary panel convened by the British Horseracing Authority issued an 18-month ban to national hunt jockey Robbie Dunne last December, after he was found guilty of bullying female rider Bryony Frost over a sustained period.
Now, racingpost.com reports that an appeals panel has reduced that ban to 10 months.
Dunne's suspension is now slated to end on Oct. 9, 2022.
“We wish to make it clear that Mr. Dunne's behavior, we think, was reprehensible and disgraceful and any jockey behaving like that in future must expect serious punishment,” said appeal panel chair Anthony Boswood QC.
“We think [the original punishment] was severe given the number of rides Mr Dunne will have lost to date and will lose in the future at this late stage in his career.
“We also think that it may be that the disciplinary panel gave insufficient credit for items of mitigation such as his attempted apology to Bryony Frost after the Stratford race, and his willingness to participate in a 'banging of heads together' at Kempton that was facilitated by the jockey Richard Johnson after conversations with Bryony Frost's father.”
The chair of the disciplinary panel, Brian Barker, issued the following statement after the original decision was handed down in December: “We are unable to accept Mr. Dunne's sweep of denials, criticisms and his reasoning. The tenor and type of language that we find was used towards Ms. Frost is totally unacceptable, whatever the frustrations about her style and whatever the habits of the weighing room. They fall squarely within the ambit of the prohibition set out in the rule.”
Dunne's representative Roderick Moore argued that other female jockeys had not spoken out about malevolent behavior from Dunne.
“The isolation I felt for speaking out I wouldn't wish on anyone,” Frost said from the stand. “You are asking me for my opinion and they [the other female riders] have to go into the weighing room every day. I feel they are protecting themselves and, rightly so, staying neutral.”
Dunne gave testimony as well, arguing that when he said he would “put her through a wing,” he didn't mean it as a threat.
“It's a common thing that's said in the weighing room,” said Dunne. “Never once have I seen someone go through with it. It's just a matter of speech . . . it wasn't a threat, it was a figure of speech.”
Read more at racingpost.com.
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