The PJA’s reaction to Robbie Dunne’s guilty verdict from an independent panel shows change is long overdue in racing
Well before the verdict arrived in the
British Horseracing Association’s case alleging bullying and harassment of Bryony Frost by her fellow jockey Robbie Dunne, the battle lines were already being drawn for the aftermath.
These clearly placed many – and conceivably the overwhelming majority – of Frost’s weighing-room colleagues on one side, with the full support of retired champions including Richard Johnson, who gave evidence in Dunne’s defence, and Tony McCoy. McCoy issued a tweet in support of weighing-room valets on Tuesday, shortly after it emerged that three valets who also gave evidence had refused to work for Frost at Fontwell that afternoon. His colleagues on ITV Racing, Alice Plunkett and (former jockey) Luke Harvey had already pre-judged the decision on the channel’s Opening Show programme by repeatedly insisting it had “nothing to do with sexism”.