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Ahern given three-month disrepute ban
by Graham Green
EDDIE AHERN has been slapped with a three-month ban after becoming the first jockey in Britain to be found guilty of bringing racing into disrepute in relation to a riding offence – one described as “a shameful exhibition of riding” by the BHA's disciplinary panel.
The disciplinary panel decided Ahern deliberately flouted the whip rules at Southwell last Wednesday in order to trigger a suspension under the totting-up process with the aim of serving the resulting ban during a relatively quiet period, while also ensuring he begins the Flat turf season with a cleanrecord.
The suspension is likely to prove hugely costly for Ahern, the reigning all-weather champion, who is not only prevented from defending his title this winter but will also miss the potentially lucrative Dubai Carnival meetings. His punishment will serve as a warning to other riders tempted to manipulate the referral system to their advantage, although Ahern continued to deny having done so on Thursday night.
The severity of his ban was welcomed by the RSPCA's equine consultant David Muir, who contacted the ruling body following Ahern's riding of the Mick Quinlan-trained Marsam, who he hit up to 20 times in the last two furlongs at the Nottinghamshire track.
The racecourse stewards found Ahern guilty of using his whip with excessive force and frequency, in the wrong place and of marking the horse, before referring him to London as he had already been suspended for 33 days for misuse of the whip during the previous 12 months.
This incident came only a week after Ahern was strongly admonished about his future use of the whip by panel chair-man the Duke of Roxburghe when given an 11-day ban at Shaftesbury Avenue following his admission he had used it with excessive frequency aboard Storm Path at Kempton on November 28. On that occasion, the local stewards felt the offence merited more than the seven days they could give.
Emerging from Thursday's inquiry, Ahern appeared stunned, but after gathering his thoughts said he would not be appealing.
“I listened very carefully to what they had to say, and the way I rode the horse wasn't me,” said Ahern. “I apologised for the way I rode the horse.
“I'm just going to take a break now and I'll be back in April. Of course I didn't do it deliberately – no way did I want to be referred – I wasjust trying too hard to win. It's a big ban and I'm disappointed about it, but I'm not going to appeal. I want to move on, accept it, and make sure it never happens again.”
Muir, who plans to monitor Ahern's riding when he returns, said: “I believe the BHA has dealt with this matter appropriately in as much as the length of the suspension seems to be reasonable in the circumstances. My concern over the whole issue was that the racehorse had to be the subject of abuse.
“I think this sends a clear signal that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated.”
The disciplinary panel noted that after winning the first race at Southwell, Ahern appeared at a stewards' inquiry at which he admitted using his whip with excessive force and “perhaps to his surprise was only given a caution”, which does not trigger the referral procedure. Marsam was his next mount, an hour later, and the panel rejected his explanation that he had been in the grip of “tunnel vision” for what they described as “a shameful exhibition of riding”.
Finding Ahern's conduct had been premeditated, and was a breach of rule 220 (iii), the panel “concluded that it was Ahern's real intention on December 12 to get all his suspensions out of the way as soon as possible. It was a ‘slate-cleaning' exercise on his part, to try to get all his ‘totting-up' penalty to run in January after his existing suspensions”.
Had this been an isolated whip offence, Ahern would have received a 24-day ban to which would have been added the totting-up penalty of 28 days. Now, the rider, already banned to January 3, faces a suspension running from January 4 to April 3 inclusive.
The panel added: “It is unacceptable that any jockey should commit an offence deliberately to trigger a ‘totting-up' penalty at a particular time, and no doubt the BHA will continue to monitor carefully the circumstances in which any jockey becomes liable to such a penalty.”
However, Noel Quinlan, the brother of Marsam's trainer, described the ban as “very harsh”, while John Hills, Ahern's biggest all-weather supporter this year in terms of rides, was also shocked at the length of the ban.
“I just can't believe it and it's very disappointing,” said Hills. “Not only would I have used Eddie on the all-weather, but I'm sending three nice horses to Dubai – Dark Islander, Pride Of Nation and Baby Princess – that he would also have ridden. To get a suspension that long is terrible, a real shame, and I feel very sorry for him, but Eddie is a very good jockey and I'm sure he'll bounce back.”
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