Dunne given seven days to appeal 18-month ban in Frost case

Robbie Dunne has until January 12 to appeal his 18-month ban handed to him by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) for bullying and harassing fellow jockey Bryony Frost after written reasons were published this morning.

The BHA found Dunne in breach of four charges of conduct prejudicial to the integrity, proper conduct and good reputation of racing, including bullying and harassing Frost between February 13, 2020 and September 3, 2020.

The majority of the incidents in question took place in 2020, when Dunne was found by the panel to have threatened Frost by promising to “put her through a wing (of a fence)” and he was also accused of using misogynistic language such as “f****** w***e”, “f****** s**t” and “dangerous c***” towards her.

The BHA published their written reasons for the length of the ban and the guilty verdict on Thursday morning, stating that: “A financial penalty was wholly insufficient to meet the justice of this case. Suspension of licence was inevitable.

“The matters proved were consecutive, occurred over six months, as time went by deepening in spitefulness, and consequently the words and acts achieving the increasingly chilling effect upon the victim which Mr Dunne intended.

“As well as falling foul of the regulations as pleaded, such behaviour, from someone who presented himself as one of the elders of the sport, setting standards and allegedly offering wise counsel to junior jockeys was hypocritical.”

“The proper approach was to fix a cumulative period and to impose it concurrently for each offence.”