Champion Murphy banned from riding for 14 months
OISÍN MURPHY was told “you thought you were above the rules” as COVID-19 and alcoholrelated infractions saw the threetime champion jockey hit with a 14-month ban.
Failed breath tests, at Chester on May 5 and at Newmarket on October 8 last year, were met with suspensions of 10 and 90 days by an independent judicial panel at the British Horseracing Authority’s High Holborn headquarters.
But the hammer blow to Murphy’s hopes of a fourth title came via an 11-month prohibition for misleading BHA COVID-19 investigators as to his whereabouts while serving a seven-day careless riding ban in September 2020.
The punishment, which is backdated to December 8 2021 – the date Murphy surrendered his licence to address his alcohol dependency – rules him out of action until February 16 2023.
“You thought you were above the rules, but they apply to all,” panel chair James O’Mahony told the Irishman.
“You embarked on a deception that was planned, carefully calculated and detailed – and it was prolonged for a significant period of time.”
The troubled 26-year-old holidayed on the Greek island of Mykonos, added to the government’s ‘red’ list – and therefore requiring a 14-day period of self-isolation upon re-entry to the UK – between
September 9 and 12. But Murphy was back in the saddle at Bath two days after his return, falsely telling two BHA officials – and the racing media – that he had taken a break in the Italian resort of Lake Como.
Also fining Murphy, who rode 11 winners between September 14 and 26 – he won the 2020 jockeys’ title by eight victories – the sum of £31,111, O’Mahony went on: “You have let down your mates, your colleagues, the racing public and the sport.
“You were prepared to take risks with the health of others.”
Acceding to Murphy’s plea for a riding ban over a warning-off order, O’Mahony said: “You are on the road to rehabilitation – we don’t want to close the door as far as that is concerned.”