Oisin! Oisin! Oisin!

​Am I alone in believing the Nanny State is closing in on us all? Oisin Murphy must quietly believe so. Not that he would say so publicly, he’s too polite and conscious of his status as our Champion flat jockey. In so many ways Oisin is a credit to the sport. Yet three-times in a comparatively short period of time he has fallen foul of the B.H.A.’s drink and drugs rules. The drug failure was in France, of course, where questions are often asked about the reliability of their testing regime, and I suspect he got away lightly, certainly by comparison with his fellow jockeys who also inhaled one too many times. With so many jockeys falling foul of the drug rule it is about time the B.H.A. stopped being lenient and brought in more severe punishments, albeit in alignment with the help and guidance required to prevent further transgressions. 
The alcohol limit for jockeys does veer on the draconian, in my opinion. It’s not like jockeys are presenting themselves in the weighing room rolling drunk and singing sea-shanties at the top of their voices. And as Oisin said in his statement of contrition, he was below the limit for driving, as if that was any form of defence. The rules are the rules and Oisin knew the rules when he imbibed whatever he imbibed the evening before. Of course, the amount of alcohol in his system was very small beer, teeny-weeny, in fact, and would not have impacted upon his riding. It was, though, thoroughly unprofessional of him and might give the impression to observers that he has a drink problem.
This is the second time this season he has been stood down by the stewards for failing a breath test and the minor punishment that resulted from the Salisbury incident will doubtless be multiplied many times on this occasion. Not that it will have any influence on the jockeys’ championship. He will either win it or throw it away based on what happens on the racecourse. I rather think he will win it, though whether he deserves to win it I’m not so sure. He’s worked equally as hard as William Buick, there is no denying it, yet Buick has kept his nose clean and not subjected the sport to any damning headlines, enough, to my mind, to make him, this season, a more deserving champion.
Someone, a friend, someone he trusts, Matt Chapman, perhaps, needs to take Oisin to one side and advise him to give up alcohol during the British flat season. In fact, to be safe he should sign the pledge for the length of time he is a jockey. Different people react differently to alcohol; some people just keep alcohol in their system for longer than other people. I don’t know if Buick drinks alcohol but if he does, he could have consumed the same amount as Oisin on Thursday evening and got up in the morning as fresh as a daisy and in no danger of failing a B.H.A. breath test. The type and amount of food taken with alcohol can also affect how much alcohol remains in the system the following day.
And, of course, now the stewards are aware that Oisin ‘has an alcohol problem’ they are more likely to target him, if only as an incentive to persuade him to keep himself clean. My fear for Oisin is that unless he addresses the problem now, while he is young and at the top of his game, the taste for alcohol may consume him as it has so many of the jockeys who have gone before him.
I like Oisin. He is a brilliant role-model for the sport. He goes out of his way to engage with young people and to promote the sport. But out of the saddle he is a happy young man? I know little about his personal life. I hope he has steadying influences around him. I wish him a loving girlfriend and a happy home-life and contentment away from the racecourse. When he first appeared on the scene, I believe he was known for being cocky and having watched a stewards’ inquiry in which they were both involved in, Ryan Moore gave the impression of having a poor opinion of him. Hopefully that has changed. That Oisin has changed.
He is too talented a rider to risk throwing away, if not his career, his reputation, especially when the margin between being over and under the alcohol limit is so small. Take the pledge, Oisin. It didn’t bring any detriment to A.P. McCoy’s life, did it?
Oh, just as an aside. Are stewards routinely breathalysed? If alcohol can impair the judgement of jockeys, surely it can impair the decisions of stewards?