Opinion: O'Brien's 14-Day Ban Sparks Questions

Racing experts have questioned Patrick O’Brien’s version of events following his 14-day ban after he was found to have stopped riding Gaelic Des Chastys close to home in a handicap chase at Roscommon last week.

Gaelic Des Chastys was two lengths ahead after jumping the last but O’Brien failed to use the whip in the last 50 yards and was pipped by Martin Brassil’s It's Never Simple by a short head.

In the Stewards' inquiry following the race, O’Brien claimed the Eric McNamara charge was not responding to the whip so he instead opted to use hands and heels.

‘He Wasn’t Riding As Vigorously As He Could Have Been’

“What was interesting, I thought, here is that he obviously made a mistake, but he didn't quite put his hands up to it,” explained irishracing.com editor Vincent Finegan on this week’s Irish Angle podcast.

“What was stated at the inquiry was ‘He continued riding with hands and heels and does not feel he eased down prematurely’.

“Now I've watched the rerun and there's no question he eased down prematurely because in the last few strides he sees the winner flashing up on his outside and he reacts and starts to ride more vigorously. So obviously, he wasn't riding as vigorously as he could have been at that stage.”

Emma Nagle questioned why O’Brien did not admit to an error but insisted there was nothing sinister behind the incident.

“Maybe the steward's inquiry would make you scratch your head a small bit. You'd imagine you just put your hands up and own up. It obviously was just a genuine error, nothing sinister behind it

“You'd have to feel for the connections as well because this is a 94-rated handicap chase, that division in Ireland is probably one of the hardest ones to get a horse to win at because it’s just so, so competitive at that level.

“Patrick O’Brien’s not a fresh-faced first-season rider, but he has no record of any mistakes like this before.

“You've seen more high-profile riders than him making mistakes like this as well. So, you imagine it's just something he's going to have to learn from. He got his 14-day ban and I can't see him doing it again.

Why did O’Brien not put his hands up?

Racing journalist Johnny Ward admitted he thought it looked like O’Brien had simply stopped riding.

“I'm not trying to contradict Patrick O'Brien because a) I didn't ride the horse and b) I don't ride horses. But to me, it didn't look like he was running on.

“I'm not suggesting Patrick O'Brien isn't telling the truth here, but I think in racing, connections get away with bull too much. Honestly, there's just stuff that is simply not true.

“Now, in this instance, Patrick O'Brien could say, ‘Well, to be honest, he actually was stopping on me’.

“I think that the video evidence suggests that he started riding again in the last, literally, second or two.

“I've interviewed Paddy, I'd say nearly more than any jockey this year, because I've been at a lot of the lower class meetings and he's had about a dozen winners at this stage.

“He's been one of the stories of the campaign so far because he's just he's gotten winners for good yards as well, the likes of Henry de Bromhead.

“I think he kind of should have put his hands up, but I haven't spoken to him about it, so maybe what he said is right, but to me it just looks like he stopped riding through tiredness or he thought he had the race won.”

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