Robbie Dunne: Jockey's ban for bullying Bryony Frost reduced to 10 months after appeal

Robbie Dunne was banned in December following incidents involving fellow jockey Bryony Frost

Jockey Robbie Dunne's ban from racing for bullying fellow rider Bryony Frost has been cut on appeal to 10 months.

In December 2021, he was banned for 18 months, with three months suspended.

His appeal against being found guilty of conduct prejudicial to racing's integrity, proper conduct and good reputation was broadly dismissed.

Appeal panel chair Anthony Boswood QC said his behaviour was "thoroughly reprehensible and disgraceful" but the initial punishment was "very severe".

Dunne, 36, had initially been found in breach of four charges of rule J19 between 13 February and 3 September 2020.

Boswood felt one breach of the rule, rather than the previous four, covered all the offences.

As Dunne's suspension began on 10 December 2021 it will end on 9 October 2022.

Boswood said his initial ban was six times the entry point for breaching the rule - and the independent panel had taken into account the rides Dunne would lose and an attempted apology.

What is the background to case?

The first hearing was told Dunne threatened to cause Frost serious physical harm and also used "foul, sexually abusive and misogynistic language" towards her.

"Any jockey behaving like that in the future must expect serious punishment," said Boswood.

Frost said Dunne had "opened his towel and shook himself" in front of her in the men's changing room, where female jockeys would sometimes go to collect kit, an allegation he denied.

Dunne said he was using a "figure of speech" and not a "threat" when he told Frost he would put her through the side of a fence after a race at Southwell in September 2020, in which he blamed her riding for the death of his horse, Cillian's Well.

For the appeal, Dunne bolstered his legal team with the addition of Robin Mathew QC, who argued the initial panel came to "an unfair and unjust decision".

He said it had been "illegitimate" to find him in breach of conduct prejudicial to racing rather than lesser charges of acting in a violent or improper manner.

Mathew said jockeys, valets and officials at Southwell did not consider the incident to be "particularly serious" and the evidence did not meet the appropriate standard on the balance of probabilities.

"The valets took a view, and I would submit, that they knew at Southwell that the upset and anger would pass," he added.

"It is quite wrong to exclude the context of the weighing room culture."

Mathew also claimed "a lot of jockeys considered the way she (Frost) rode was not only unacceptable, but dangerous".

Louis Weston, for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), said Dunne's conduct went "beyond a spat" and damaged the reputation of the sport.

"You cannot have someone intimidating or bullying someone so they have to retreat to their own room," he said.

Weston said the incidents had reduced Frost, a professional athlete, to tears and left her fearful of going to work.

"There is not a single workplace in the country where you could use that kind of language and keep your job," he added.

"What is outstanding in this case is a series of people in the weighing room stood by and did nothing."

Dunne admitted one breach of the rules by behaving in a violent or improper manner towards Frost at Southwell on 3 September 2020.

But he denied similar charges at Stratford on 8 July and Uttoxeter on 17 August 2020, and also denied bullying and harassing her between 12 February and 3 September.

Despite the reduced penalty, the BHA said the ban "continues to send a clear message that conduct of this nature cannot be tolerated in any working environment within our sport."

It has pledged to improve workplace standards and wellbeing, and finalise an industry code of conduct.

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