the weighing room culture.

​My apologies for referring back to one the most damaging stories to emerge from horse racing in the past decade. At least in my opinion. When Bryony Frost accused Robbie Dunne of bullying behaviour, an accusation an independent panel found to be substantially proven, Dunne’s friends in the weighing room in giving evidence on his behalf, suggested the weighing room was a homely, loving place, where everyone got along just fine. Similar sentiments were expressed in the Racing Post and by Charlie Deutsch on I.T.V. Racing after winning a race at Cheltenham.
Yet, in his excellent article in Monday’s (Sept 5th) Racing Post, airing his views on the interference rules, Paul Hanigan suggested otherwise. He wrote: There are some good people in the weighing room but also some who aren’t very nice. He later wrote: The weighing room used to be a safe haven but there are times now when it is a horrible place. There are arguments, shouting and bawling after races every day.
His overtone, though he makes no mention of the Frost/Dunne affair, is that since Dunne was hauled over the coals for his bullying of a female jockey, the senior jockeys are now scared of raising instances of bad/dangerous riding committed by young riders during a race, incidents they were aware of but stewards had missed. If this is true, and why would a respected jockey like Hanagan make such a claim if it was not based on factual evidence, then we must assume that neither the Professional Jockeys Association nor the B.H.A. have instigated any new protocols to deal with the sort of incidents highlighted by Paul Hanagan. 
What is off about all this is that young jockeys almost always have jockey coaches nowadays. Would it not be sensible to have contact numbers for jockey coaches, with the names of the jockeys they coach, on a message board within the weighing room? Then, when a young jockey has erred for whatever reason during a race, one of the senior jockeys, or a jockey nominated to deal with such matters, could contact the coach of the young jockey involved, draw his attention to the incident or even just poor riding skills, and leave the matter for him to make good.
The past may have been ‘the good old days’ but surely it was always wrong for a senior jockey to take a young lad to one side to give him nine lashes of his indignation, to frighten the living daylights out of him, even if it was done for the safety of everyone concerned.
Paul Hanagan, followed-up by many of his colleagues, have voiced their opinion that the lack of consistency by stewards when it comes to the interference rules is the main reason for the present spate of dangerous incidents occurring around and by young jockeys. He even admits to being in the wrong in the Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot, even though an independent panel finally ruled in his favour, allowing the connections of The Ridler to keep their ‘ill-gotten’ spoils.
As Hanagan admits, only disqualification of jockeys winning races by pushing the interference rules close to breaking point will provide the remedy he and other jockeys are looking for. Clarity, is the correct description here, I believe. A change to the interference rules that jockeys believe in, with no wriggle room as is so often the case with the B.H.A.
The culture in weighing rooms that Paul Hanagan writes about fits squarely with Bryony Frost’s testimony during the B.H.A. inquiry. One, of course, must assume the culture would be similar in the weighing rooms of both the jump jockeys and their counterparts on the flat. It is sad to think of the weighing room being a hive of discord when the people who assemble there are the heroes of the sport, men and women who the racing enthusiast see as brave and courageous, stout and true.
Of course, jockeys are only human, they will make mistakes, lose their sense of perspective, see red in times of stress, and be quick to point out the faults of others while at the same time not admitting to their own faults. It is chastening, though, to realise that nothing has been achieved to cancel the sort of behaviour Robbie Dunne was guilty of; that no one has been appointed arbiter of disputes, charged with the simple task of contacting the relevant jockey coach and leaving the matter-in-hand for him to deal with. That is an unhappy truth, a fault of everyone within the hallowed sanctum of the weighing room.