Two very different cases but silent weighing-room culture clear to see

AS THE stars of jumps racing come out to play in the run-up to Christmas, the attention of the racing world has largely been on the courtroom rather than the racecourse.

Former champion Flat apprentice jockey Freddy Tylicki is suing Graham Gibbons in a £6million court case for an incident at Kempton in 2016 where Tylicki was left paralysed. A verdict is expected to be given before Christmas.

In the BHA courtroom, Bryony Frost gave evidence over the alleged bullying of her by fellow jumps jockey Robbie Dunne. The latter has admitted to one charge of acting in a violent or improper manner towards Frost in relation to an incident at Southwell last year. Dunne will give evidence this week.

Did it really need to come to this? In the Tylicki case, Jim Crowley, a top-class and well-respected jockey, said Gibbons’ breath smelled of alcohol but it was not reported on the fateful day.

In the Frost case, the 26-year-old spoke of her increasing feeling of isolation in the weighing room as fellow jockeys chose to, by and large, stay silent over the bullying claims.

For example, jumps jockey Adam

Wedge described the alleged volley of abuse directed at Frost by Dunne as ‘nothing out of the ordinary’ but a fence attendant at Stratford reckoned, when questioned by Dunne’s legal team, it was ‘a whoa moment’ and ‘out of the ordinary’.

Make no mistake, these two ongoing cases are very different but parallels can be made over the weighing-room culture of silence. Not rocking the boat at any cost.

In a society where people are now openly encouraged to speak out over various discrimination, racing’s prevalent weighing room silence is not a good look.