BHA and Dunshea challenged to present evidence for comments about jockey actions

The BHA and its chief regulatory officer Brant Dunshea have been challenged to present the evidence for their comments that jockey behaviour could be changed by the success rate of appeals against raceday riding suspensions.

Writing in Friday’s Racing Post, Dunshea expressed concerns that jockeys were overturning bans before the independent disciplinary panel "the majority of the time” and that this could impact both how jockeys approached riding and how stewards were able to officiate.

He said: "The ability to appeal against racecourse decisions is an essential part of a regulatory system, and this proves that the disciplinary panels are truly independent, but at the same time it can be challenging for our stewarding teams when the suspensions that they impose are frequently overturned on appeal. It is possible that this, in turn, could have a knock-on effect on rider behaviour."