Horse racing needs to take a look at itself in the mirror

As someone of limited interest in horse racing – jumping or flat – the recent British Horseracing Association disciplinary case, in which professional female jockey Bryony Frost called out Robbie Dunne for conducting a personal campaign of verbal abuse and threats against her over a period of time, nevertheless attracted my attention.

Nobody could doubt that horse racing is a tough industry in which to make a living but – from my unconnected and inexpert viewpoint – one can imagine how one of the apparently unsavoury aspects of its “insider culture” might be that some incumbent jockeys (in proportion overwhelmingly male) might not exactly welcome the advent of professional female equivalents with open arms – especially if they ever proved to be any good – possibly on the basis “It’s a difficult enough career already without them coming along and nicking our rides”…”

I leave aside here the physical differences between the sexes – albeit that, being generally smaller and lighter, some might suggest that this could be an area of advantage for women (cure images of male jockeys eating nothing but lettuce leaves and spending hours in saunas simply in order to try and keep their weight down sufficient to make certain rides).

The outcome of the Frost/Dunne hearing was, of course, that Dunne was essentially found guilty and received a whopping 18 months suspension for misdemeanours including calling Frost a series of four-letter words to her face, standing naked in front of her and at one stage threatening to “put her through the fence” if she ever – accidentally or otherwise – “cut across him” again during a race.

It’s not certain whether Dunne will appeal against the verdict, as remains his right for a period, but the both the jockeys’ union (who ostensibly represent both Frost and Dunne) and several administrative staff who work within the industry have separately taken great exception to a barrister’s lurid description during the disciplinary hearing of the allegedly toxic, misogynistic culture that exists ”behind the scenes” in the sport.

Speaking of which – to an extent touching upon the subject as it is viewed from both sides – here is a link to an article by Lizzie Kelly upon the issues involved, as appears today upon the website of the – DAILY MAIL

My only comment is that I have a close female friend whom – as a young woman in her late teens – worked for a period within the horse racing industry and became familiar with its culture through personal experience.

She told me categorically the other day that the “inside culture” of the horse racing industry is decidedly unhealthy. Almost without exception, she described professional male jockeys as the randiest and most misogynistic group of people she has ever come across, fuelled by an exaggerated sense of “entitlement” when it comes to helping themselves to sexual favours from women working within the industry.

During her period in the industry, like all other female grooms and others working in the stables in any capacity, she was subjected to daily sexual harassment from jockeys of all ages – some of them old enough to be her grandfather – and, because (unlike others who were “game”, some of them perhaps star-struck and attracted by the glamour of the sport), she refused ever to respond to the constant requests for sex, the jockeys would routinely call her a “stuck-up cow” … and indeed far, far worse than that. She doubts very much whether the culture of the sport has changed a great deal since her time in it nearly four decades ago.