The culture of the weighing room in National Hunt racing is stuck in the 1950s, where misogyny and intimidation rule and jockey Robbie Dunne saw himself as the enforcer of those outdated traditions, a disciplinary hearing has been told.
Dunne is charged with bullying, harassing and threatening his rival, a successful female jump jockey, Bryony Frost, at three races last year.
And in closing arguments before a British Horse Racing Authority panel, barristers for both sides asked for and gave no quarter.
At the heart of the case is what was said by Dunne to Frost at meets held at Uttoxeter, Stratford and Southwell.
However, the culture of racing, which prides itself on being a sport where men and women can compete on equal terms, is very much on trial, too.
Acting for the BHA, barrister Louis Weston, described a weighing room culture in which Dunne’s alleged lewd behaviour, threats and sexual slurs towards Frost were considered normal and acceptable.
Robbie Dunne, racing at Newbury in January, is accused of intimidating Bryony Frost
‘It cannot be that Miss Frost should be allowed to compete on a race course on a level playing field only to find that when she comes back to the weighing room she is met by Mr Dunne,’ said Weston.
‘[He is] acting out a role as the head of some patriarch re-enacting the social attitudes of the 1950s in his capacity as self-appointed enforcer of traditions, he perceives to be put in place in the weighing room. Just unacceptable… by some distance.’
The BHA claims that the culture allowed Dunne to pursue a ‘vendetta’ against Frost dating back to 2017, which eventually escalated into aggressive sexist abuse and threats to harm the female jockey by putting her through a fence.
It is claimed that in the changing room, a space which is often shared by men and women at antiquated race courses, Dunne dropped his towel and ‘waggled himself in front’ of Frost, feigned sex acts and would make sexually charged remarks about ‘how he would give women jockeys a ride’.
Robbie Dunne (L) has been charged with verbally abusing and threatening Bryony Frost (R)
These claims were denied by Dunne and his barrister during the course of the week-long hearing, but Weston insisted: ‘It is 1950s humour. Carry on Up the Riding Clubs type thing, let’s make jokes about women. Unacceptable.’
The BHA say that Dunne mocked and bullied Frost over a long period before the remarks became more threatening last year.
Dunne, the hearing was told, had formed the view that Frost’s riding endangered him and others and he needed to teach her how to behave.
At various races it is alleged Dunne called his more successful rival a ‘f****** slag’, dangerous ‘f****** whore’ and a ‘dangerous c***’ as he took the younger rider to task. It is language Dunne denies using.
At Stratford on July 8, it is claimed Dunne felt he had been cut up on the course by Frost – an act described as ‘murder’ in National Hunt racing.
As the riders pulled up after the race, it is alleged Dunne told Frost: ‘You’re a fucking whore … and if you ever fucking murder me like that again, I’ll murder you.’
However, the feud came to a head on September 3 last year at Southwell when Dunne’s mount, Cillian’s Well, fell and died in the race and the male jockey held Frost responsible.
In the weighing room, Dunne told Frost what he thought of her riding and said he would ‘put her through a wing [fence]’.
In her evidence, Frost said Dunne threatened her coolly and she believed he intended to hurt her.
‘He promised he would hurt me and I believed him,’ she said. ‘He said it to me in such a way I believed him.’
Dunne accepts he used the phrase ‘put you through a
