Benoit de la Sayette: Teenage jockey a victim of 'malicious' video, says PJA
- Published
De la Sayette is a rising star who won the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster on Haqeeqy
Teenage rider Benoit de la Sayette is the victim of a "malicious" video designed to discredit him, says the Professional Jockeys' Association.
The 18-year-old is shown in a film circulating on Twitter at a party where cocaine is used, but the PJA says "he did not and does not" take the drug.
De la Sayette won Saturday's Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster on Haqeeqy.
The PJA says the film is "trying to cause significant damage to a young man at the start of his career".
De la Sayette is an apprentice jockey for leading Newmarket trainer John Gosden.
A video has been tweeted from an account purporting to be De la Sayette's in which cocaine is used.
"For the avoidance of doubt, this account is not Benoit's nor is it under his control," said a statement from the PJA.
Saturday's victory on the Gosden-trained Haqeeqy was the the jockey's first race on turf, and a poignant one for owner Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum, whose father Sheikh Hamdan died earlier in the week.
The PJA said the "carefully edited film maliciously suggests that Benoit was taking cocaine after winning the aforementioned race".
"Benoit lives with his parents and was driven to and from Doncaster on Saturday by his father along with another jockey, and spent the evening at home with his parents," added the association.
"He was also riding at Doncaster on Sunday and once again driven there and back by his father.
"The film is actually from October 2019 when he was 16, nine months prior to Benoit being licensed. The PJA is taking steps to try and have the account that posted the video removed.
"He was at a party in Lambourn and filmed being in the presence of cocaine that others, not him, were taking. He did not and does not take cocaine."