Jockey Robbie Dunne was banned from riding for 18 months, the final three of which are suspended, last week when he was found guilty of bullying and harassing fellow jockey Bryony Frost over a seven-month period.

Dunne, from Dublin, was found to have engaged in conduct online, on the track and in the weighing room which was prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct and good reputation of racing.

The 36-year-old was charged with seven breaches in total – four of conduct prejudicial to horse racing and three of violent and threatening behaviour – with all but one of those charges denied.

An independent three-person panel, chaired by Brian Barker QC, found the four prejudicial conduct breaches to have been proven, while the latter three are yet to be considered.

Robbie Dunne has been banned from riding for 18 months. \ Healy Racing

The majority of the incidents in question took place in 2020 and culminated with a threat from Dunne that promised Frost that he would “put her through the wing (of a fence),” while he was also accused of using misogynistic language.

Barker labelled the progress of Dunne’s behaviour towards Frost as “distasteful targeting to deliberate harassment and onwards to occasional cases of dangerous bullying”.

He acknowledged the bravery of Frost by saying: “On the examination of Ms Frost’s evidence and demeanour we find her to be truthful, thoughtful and compelling. By taking her complaint to the authority she has broken the code (of the weighing room), knowing that her isolation – and rejection by some – was inevitable.”

Hotly-debated

Commentary during the case last week was hotly debated on social media with plenty of jockeys, former and present, defending the culture of the weighing room. That culture was referred to by Louis Weston, who represented the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) in the case, as “rancid” in his closing arguments.

That finding was also referred to by Barker when he laid out potentially very significant ramifications from the case.

He said: “We have a real concern that what was referred to by Mr Weston (representing the BHA in the case) as ‘the weighing-room culture’ is deep-rooted and coercive and that in itself is not conducive to the development of modern-day race-riding.”

The Professional Jockeys Association (PJA) accepted the findings of the panel’s decision but wholly disputed the negative references to the weighing room culture.

A PJA statement read: “The PJA does not accept the disciplinary panel’s findings in relation to the culture within and collective behaviour of the jump jockeys’ weighing room. It is a grossly inaccurate and wholly unfair representation of the weighing room and a conclusion we believe is at odds with the evidence presented.

“The PJA does not condone bullying or the use of the type of language the disciplinary panel has concluded was used. Bullying and the use of such entirely inappropriate language cannot and will not be tolerated.”

Frost thanked every individual including the racing public in a short statement after the findings. Dunne has one week to appeal the panel’s decision.