The Cunningham File: No winners in Frost/Dunne saga
Graham Cunningham tries to make sense of Bryony Frost's complaints against Robbie Dunne, before questioning the hyperbole around Luxembourg following his Doncaster success.
Racing on a loser as Dunne debacle rumbles on
Where do you start with this Bryony Frost and Robbie Dunne saga?
Listing the losers seems as good a place as any – because there aren’t any winners based on David Walsh’s second week of Sunday Times revelations.
Dunne hardly seems the sort of bloke you’d like your daughter to bring home if leaked reports of his threats to Frost are accurate.
His protective weighing room colleagues, usually revered for their courage and camaraderie, now stand accused by their governing body of fostering a culture that “condones threatening behaviour and frowns upon the reporting of it.”
PJA boss Paul Struthers could have been forgiven for holding his nose while calling on the BHA to close the case because Dunne’s chance of a fair hearing had been damaged.
A hapless BHA, having reported itself to the Information Commissioner’s Office for the embarrassing leak that fuelled Walsh’s story, may well have to take another bruising L and move on.
And, lost in the depressing macho shuffle, is a 26-year-old female rider whose future is starting to look less secure than when she won the Ryanair and King George on Frodon.
Let’s call this song exactly what it is
We know from a leaked report that the BHA feels Dunne has serious questions to answer.
We are told that his intimidation of Frost had nothing to do with sexism as Luke Harvey and Alice Plunkett said so repeatedly on last Saturday’s Opening Show.
And we are led to believe that the leaked report is “hopelessly jaundiced” because the normally excellent Richard Forristal branded it as such in today’s Racing Post.
But if it’s not sexism and female jockeys are an intrinsic part of the weighing room fabric as Forristal suggests, then maybe we should take a leaf from Aretha Franklin’s playbook.
In other words: “Let’s call this song exactly what it is.”
And what it is looks suspiciously like good old-fashioned bullying. A rare case in a pressurised environment, perhaps, but a serious episode and one for which Frost was entitled to take a stand.
But taking a stand for what you believe in – like the NFL’s blackballed quarterback Colin Kaepernick - can come at a heavy cost when your sport is ruled by innate conservatism and an ancient code that says you never take a grievance outside the family.
Frodon to the rescue in Down Royal showdown?
Perhaps Frost has been keeping a low profile due to recent tensions but it’s notable that she has gone from 52 rides and eight winners for ten different trainers in October 2020 to three winners from 12 rides for just four handlers in the same month so far this year.
Take a second to digest those stats along with Dunne’s admission that the powerful jockey lobby has reacted badly to Frost’s BHA complaint.
Then ponder on how some swithering owners and trainers might react and it’s easy to conclude that the poster girl of British jump racing has never needed her old pal ‘Frode’ more than she does in Saturday’s Ladbrokes Champion Chase.
Defeating the Gold Cup winner Minella Indo at Down Royal could go a long way towards steadying the ship but relying on one trainer can be risky and Frost is currently leaning hard on Nicholls for comfort.
Time will tell how this saga concludes but it’s depressing, albeit predictable, to see so much coverage centred on the legal interests of the alleged offender.
Bryony Frost must have known full well that making a formal complaint against Dunne wouldn’t land well with her peers. And she shouldn’t have to gain acceptance over again because an ageing journeyman with a penchant for parading bollock naked had it in for her.
But, like many talented women who get on the wrong end of a nasty colleague, something tells me she might have to. And where do you start with that?
John and Paul speak out as disciples for change
Paul Hanagan took a typically measured approach to current weighing room culture in conversation with the Racing Post’s David Carr this week.
It’s easy to sympathise with the former champion’s view that delivering a volley to youngsters who put riders in harm’s way can now be construed as bullying. And it’s telling to hear him add that he has “never seen the interference regime being so ineffective.”
Which brings us neatly to John Berry’s Thursday appeal into the outcome of Pontefract’s Bluff Cove Handicap in which his hardy stayer Dereham lost all chance when Wynford hung badly right under pressure from Kevin Stott.
No lawyer would ever advise a client to pre-empt an appeal by being quoted saying “as long as they interpret their own rules as I understand them, we’re a certainty to win.”
Things may feel different for Berry once renowned racing legal eagle Rory MacNeice sharpens his talons and, in his heart of hearts, Berry surely knows he is a big price to convince a three-man panel that Stott’s offence should have been treated as dangerous – which results in automatic demotion - rather than careless riding.
Still, as with Frost, the determination to see a case through come what may is laudable.
One of Britain’s more articulate trainers and one of its most respected riders clearly feel it’s time to take a stand against rough riding. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another serious injury for the BHA to listen.
Hold the confetti over Luxembourg Classic claims
Stardom or even superstardom is a status we tend to confer swiftly and strip away ruthlessly nowadays.
When I say we I mean the confetti-cannon content merchants who hail every other G1 winner as a “monster” and then anoint next big thing once said monster fails to roar.
Hands up, I sprayed my share of embarrassing confetti in Bolshoi Ballet’s direction during the Derby build-up. But I didn’t join the misguided love-in for Love or the rush to salute High Definition, Snowfall, and Santa Barbara as the next wave of Ballydoyle superstars.
So, what’s the sensible approach to take over Luxembourg after he completed an unbeaten first season in last Saturday’s Vertem Futurity Trophy at Doncaster?
Timeform rate the Camelot colt on 118p – splitting Godolphin pair Native Trail and Coroebus atop their juvenile rankings – and Luxembourg never looked like being reeled in once he took command entering the final furlong.
But he didn’t glide clear in the way his old man did in the same race a decade earlier and, with the first five covered by a little over two lengths, it might be as well to keep the Classic confetti in waiting for the moment.
Much to look forward to on a big weekend at Wetherby
Bryony Frost heads north to Wetherby for one ride on Friday when the promising Barbados Buck’s takes on the exciting chasing newcomer Ahoy Senor in the 2.05.
I’ll be heading across the M62 to cover the action with Niall Hannity for Racing TV and, with rain forecast, things look set for what should be a highly informative weekend.
Any chasing clash between two youngsters rated 152 and 143 over hurdles is worth seeing but the duel between Ahoy Senor and Barbados Buck’s offers an added dimension because both horses jumped hurdles so accurately.
The hurdles on the card also offer plenty of interest, with a couple of notable French recruits on deck in the Listed Wensleydale Juvenile Hurdle at 3.15 and the closer at 4.55.
Porticello looked a very strong stayer when winning at Auteuil in April in a race that has worked out a treat.
He’s clearly an exciting recruit to the Gary Moore barn but he carries a penalty round a sharp track here and it would come as no surprise to see Alan King’s useful Flat stayer Oceanline give him plenty to think about after a promising hurdling debut at Stratford.
Oliver Greenall also takes the wraps off a French import when Monte Igueldo lines up for the finale. Dan Skelton has won the last two renewals of this (with Proschema and Third Time Lucki) so Ludlow bumper winner Knickerbockerglory is bound to attract support.
Guardino is another bumper winner with potential but it’s well worth keeping an eye on Monte Igueldo, who caught the eye jumping capably and making a big move from the rear when second at Auteuil in June, clear of a third who has run well in valuable handicaps since.