BRAVE female jockey Hayley Turner is candid about how she was threatened and verbally abused by a male rival who has since been banned.
Turner reported the behavior of veteran rider John Egan to stewards at Chester Racecourse on Saturday after being persuaded to do so by three other male riders.
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Egan, 54, one of the most experienced riders in the weigh room, has been banned for 10 days.
He was found in violation of Rule (J) 20 by the stewards for using “threatening and abusive language” towards Turner, who was killed last year. rescued a colleague from a potential disaster in a terrifying maternity incident.
Turner, 39, told the Race message: “I don’t want to go into word-for-word details, but it was all ridiculous.
“John was unnecessarily and persistently rude after the race and that is not acceptable.
“I’ve been in the weigh room for 20 years and I’ve seen it all, but the way things are going it’s not acceptable to do that.
“People have turned a blind eye to things like this a little too often in the past and for me this was just going too far.
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“I wasn’t upset myself, that’s very important to say, but you can’t talk like he did and we can’t have a workplace where it’s allowed to happen.
“Hopefully it will stop someone from saying things like that and I got a really strong response that day from other riders encouraging me to report what happened.
“Nobody thought it was right and it was a very good response from the other jockeys and from the officials on the day who took it seriously.”
Jumps jockey Robbie Dunne is quiet serving an 18-month suspension after being found guilty of bullying Bryony Frost.
The Sun Racing columnist opened on the pain she suffered last year at the hands of Dunnesaying that at one point it got so bad that she wanted to leave the country.
Turner said Egan, whose son David is one of the best riders and brings in millions with some of the best rides in the world, later apologized.
She said he did not use misogynistic or chauvinistic language during the flashpoint last weekend.
Egan said the incident was “one of those things” and came in the thick of it.
He said: “I probably overreacted. Towards the end of the meeting I thought about what I was doing and apologized to Hayley and said I had gone over the top.
“The case is closed and we move on, that’s how it is – nobody wants things to go on and then mess around.
“It’s a competitive sport and these things happen.”
Egan’s suspension, which runs from October 8-18, means he will miss potentially cash-spinning rides on Ascot’s British Champions Day and Newmarket’s Future Champions Day.
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