Tom Morgan was given a rough ride as he offered his expert testimony to the Jim Best rehearing on Tuesday, as a member of the panel appeared unwilling to accept one of his key points. Morgan, a former Irish champion jump jockey, said he did not think Paul John had given stopping rides to the two horses at the centre of the case but flagged up what he believed were signs of fatigue in the jockey’s efforts.
John claims he stopped both Echo Brava and Missile Man when they ran in December, acting on the instructions of Best, a Lewes-based trainer who employed him. Best denies the charge and is defending himself at a hearing expected to last all week.
Morgan summed up John’s ride on Echo Brava by saying: “He’s an inexperienced jockey on an inexperienced horse, getting carted. The horse was in control of the jockey.” Asked what he would have expected to see if this had really been a stopping ride, Morgan said: “He’d have to break the horse’s stride at some stage but he didn’t. If anything, he was encouraging the horse forward.”
John claims he went wide in order to make his horse cover as much ground as possible. Morgan pointed out that, because of the layout of the rails at Plumpton that day, John had followed the best racing line for much of the time and that most other jockeys in the race had followed a similar route.
Morgan saw no evidence of the horse being ridden into the bottom of hurdles, as John had claimed. In reference to two air shots with the whip which John had described, Morgan said one had connected with the horse while the other was mere waving of the whip to encourage Echo Brava. He pointed to three moments in the first half of the race where he said John’s legs had given way, asserting that was a sign of the rider being tired. John had claimed those were “show bumps” to make it look as though he was trying.
William Norris QC, one of three panel members and a former amateur jump jockey, repeatedly pressed Morgan about the effort made by John, asking: “Tell us where you see the horse coming off the bridle, if it does.” Morgan said that had happened “halfway down the back straight”, describing John as nudging the horse there, and added that the jockey’s use of the whip at the home turn also indicated Echo Brava was off the bridle. Norris’s doubts seemed to persist and he told Best’s barrister, Jonathan Laidlaw: “That’s a concern we have as we look at this film.”
Other points made by Morgan seemed to get a better reception. He noted that John had, at times, grabbed the neckstrap while riding both horses, “which suggests to me this jockey doesn’t have much confidence in his horses”. He pointed out the undulating running rail at Towcester in support of his contention that the uneven ground had caused Missile Man to become unbalanced and that John had not produced that effect, as the rider claims.
Earlier, John was challenged by Laidlaw about a selfie he had texted to Best in which the jockey was giving the ‘v’ sign to the camera. Laidlaw suggested the text, sent in the evening after John’s ride on Echo Brava had got him in trouble with the stewards, amounted to evidence of the jockey’s general lack of respect. John countered that it was sent in response to a now-deleted text from Best, in which the trainer claimed he had told him: “Well done for getting the feed cart today. That’s what you’re going to be doing for the next two weeks while you’re banned ha ha.” The hearing continues.
