TROUBLED jockey Oisin Murphy has been banned for a whopping 14 months and fined £31,111. But the three-time champion let out a sigh of relief after he was able to keep his latest title. Murphy, 26, lied to the BHA about a holiday to red-listed Mykonos and should have isolated for two weeks on his […]
TROUBLED jockey Oisin Murphy has been banned for a whopping 14 months and fined £31,111.
But the three-time champion let out a sigh of relief after he was able to keep his latest title.
Murphy, 26, lied to the BHA about a holiday to red-listed Mykonos and should have isolated for two weeks on his return.
Instead he rode 11 winners in that period, telling the authorities he had been in Lake Como.
Murphy was eventually rumbled after he was repeatedly questioned on his trip and caught out by a snap on Instagram.
James O’Mahony, the panel chair, told him: “You thought you were above the rules and the law. However high you are, you are not above those. They apply to all.”
Murphy admitted to all charges that included two alcohol-related incidents at Chester and Newmarket.
The latest of those came last October, where as Sun Sport revealed, he allegedly hit a bloodstock agent with a glass after an evening of drinking wine and vodka lemonades.
Murphy admitted the pressure of a third jockeys championship had got to him and he had turned to the bottle.
He accepted all five charges and emotionally told the hearing how he is now battling his demons off the track.
Murphy said: “Some jockeys deal with things by going home and playing the Playstation, I go home, watch all the replays, scrutinise everything and drink a bottle of wine or a bottle of vodka.
“I get up the next morning and ride out and no one really knew anything about it.”
He added: “Coming back from Chelmsford, it was only a short journey but I’d started pouring Vodka-Lemonades before a friend’s dinner party. A lot of racing people were there.
“I managed to switch my mind off from racing, I don’t know how much wine I drank, but it was enough. I remember agreeing to go to the Yard [pub] but I don’t remember being there at all.
“When I woke up I realised I had light weights and I got in the bath and sweated for an hour. My friends started messaging me saying I’d done this and done that, some of it true, some of it untrue.
“All of a sudden the panic set in. I knew I was out of control, I never drank on the way to the races, but in the evening, I was capable of drinking one glass of wine, or ten and not knowing the next morning what I had done.
“It took until then for me to finally give in, I knew my issues of coping with pressure and self-caused had led to me developing a dependence on alcohol. I should have realised a lot earlier, the writing was on the wall and the people were there to help me.
“David Redvers had tried to help me, but I convinced myself I didn’t have a problem because I didn’t get up in the morning and have a drink.”
Murphy had already handed his licence in after details emerged of his problems with alcohol in November last year.
But he will not be able to reapply for his licence until February 16, 2023.
Panel chair, O’Mahony, added: “Reference has been made to three breaches of COVID regulations. Breaches of regulations can apply to a whole range of things.
“For example, a family who lives in a 14 floor high block breaking lockdown to have a walk in the park. This level of offending is very different.
“You knew all along that you had to self-isolate, that’s all you had to do, as countless others did. But you embarked on a deception that was planned, carefully calculated and detailed and it was prolonged for a significant period of time. You only put your hands up, with your back against the wall.”
