Paul O'Neill today vowed to "get on with his career" after being handed a one-day suspension for an incident which saw him headbutt City Affair before the start of a race at Stratford.
The jockey was brought before a disciplinary panel of the Horseracing Regulatory Authority after the incident, which was not noticed by the raceday stewards on July 23, but was flagged up by the media in the aftermath. O'Neill was seen in recordings of the incident appearing to headbutt the horse in the face after the John O'Shea-trained gelding had unshipped him before the start. He apologised for his actions soon afterwards and entered a guilty plea to the HRA.
O'Neill was legally represented at the hearing and the panel viewed several recordings of the race but judged the offence to be at the lower end of the improper riding scale. They duly suspended him for one day, August 11, but did have the option of a maximum sentence of 21 days. "I am pleased the hearing is now over. I accept the judgement of the panel and I want to take this final opportunity to say how sorry I am," said O'Neill. "I now want to put this incident behind me and get on with my career."
The panel's ruling falls in line with similar offences, such as when Timmy Murphy was suspended for one day at Plumpton in December 2004 for throwing his whip at his mount. "This has to be taken in context and you have to forget the hype and the tabloid headlines, which were probably linked to the Zinedine Zidane incident," said Malcolm Wallace, director of regulation at the HRA. "This should have been dealt with by the stewards on the day and had it been seen by them it would have been. Had it been dealt with by them he would have got one day as it wouldn't have had all of the hype.
"It is very important to remember this horse was not injured - the RSPCA, our vet and the trainer say it wasn't injured - so the penalty of one day is consistent with a jockey who was also given one day for throwing his whip at a horse. It is damaging to have these images broadcast and I did think at one stage he might have brought racing into disrepute and he probably has, but he has actually been charged with improper riding and it would be wrong of us to change the charge as it captured the public imagination. If the horse had been injured then that is very different as it is abuse and we would throw the book at a jockey."
John Blake, chief executive of the Jockeys' Association, added: "The punishment is consistent with other rare instances of this nature and his ability to earn a living will be affected by the incident. The video was broadcast around the world and Paul will continue to be affected by it for a length of time. Penalties come in many forms and the suspension is part of it. We have had emails from places as far flung as Illinois and Paul operates as a freelance so trainers have the option of using other jockeys. I think it will take some time for him to repair that damage and a jockey's conduct is extremely important for the image of the sport." |
