Punchy rider apologises

THE apprentice jockey suspended for two weeks after punching a horse has broken his silence, as animal activists demand a lifetime ban.

Footage of the incident shows attendants trying to get fractious filly She’s Reneldasgirl into the barriers at Port Lincoln, South Australia, with rider Dylan Caboche aboard, before he dismounts and punches her rib cage.

“My actions probably weren’t the greatest,” the 22year-old apprentice said yesterday, a day after the incident.

“Striking a horse is obviously not the right way to go about things and it was a brain fade and it shouldn’t have happened.

“I obviously understand and accept that no matter how difficult my mount was, I can’t justify what I did.”

Animal welfare group, the Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses, says Caboche should be banned for life.