Another Bites the Dust in Oz

[JJ Flash 2,132]

Champion apprentice cops 4 month ban over Covid breach

Tom Sherry. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty Images.

 

By Clinton Payne
09:11pm • 23 September 2021

Sydney’s champion apprentice Tom Sherry was suspended for four months on Thursday after pleading guilty to breaching Racing NSW Covid protocols.

Sherry went to trackwork at Randwick last week while still awaiting the results of a Covid test he had the previous day on September 14.

Under NSW Health Orders, people should isolate while waiting for Covid test results. On September 15, Sherry was informed he had tested positive to Covid and has been stood down from riding since.

Stewards issued two conduct-related charges against the jockey and he pleaded guilty on both counts.

“I know I have breached the rules, and I’m taking full responsibility for that,” Sherry told stewards at the inquiry on Thursday.

“Covid has been tough on everyone but especially being an apprentice and it being an important time of year on the racing calendar, I was just trying to work my hardest to get every opportunity I can in the last year of my apprenticeship.

Sherry’s master Mark Newnham. Photo: Mark Evans – Getty Images.

 

“There was no intention to put anyone in the racing industry at risk because I wasn’t aware that I had Covid.

“I know you say that a stuffed nose is a symptom and I should have taken more precaution.

“If I took a precaution every time I have a stuffed nose or headache, I would never be at the races, because I’m constantly rundown and constantly feeling unwell because of the circumstances of racing and riding light.”

Stewards ruled the apprentice can continue to ride trackwork and in barrier trials while suspended once he is cleared of Covid.

Meanwhile, Stewards also fined Sherry’s master Mark Newnham, telling the trainer he should have informed the apprentice to remain at home until he had the Covid test results.

Newnham was fined $25,000 which was reduced to $18,750 due to his guilty plea for a conduct-related charge.

[scoobysnacks 386]

"because I’m constantly rundown and constantly feeling unwell because of the circumstances of racing and riding light"

We expect jockeys to make very important and dangerous decisions when they're of ill-health. Time to raise the weight scale?

[Blue 1,095]

With all due respect " if you can't stand the heat..........."

[kdt 291]

3 hours ago, Blue said:

With all due respect " if you can't stand the heat..........."

There in lies the problem. Far too many are just discarded and the industry rolls on not really giving a sh.. Much more need to be done in the way of duty of care for these young and not so young people. I'm not for one moment excusing what Tom Sherry has done but he raises a very valid point.

[stodge 1,938]

Over here, after decades of it all being kept quiet, we are starting to hear some harrowing tales of the mental health impact the racing treadmill has on jockeys, trainers and their families.

Publicised cases of alcohol or drug dependency and a few suicides have finally prompted the authorities to show some interest - we had "Mental Health Week" during the summer and one fortunate by-product of the coronavirus is jockeys are no longer allowed to ride at more than one meeting a day. The days of jockeys rushing from course to course, usually or car (or by helicopter for the favoured few) are over and nobody seems that upset.

With more meetings now at eight races, the opportunity to get a better book of rides exists rather than riding two at one meeting and rushing to ride one in the evening.

The push of improving mental health then meets the pull of the industry wanting more product. Everybody wants more racing but at the same time nobody does. The balance between a sustainable industry and an unremitting treadmill is often a fine line. 

If you think about it, 1000 meetings at eight races per meeting is more racing than 1300 meetings at six races per meeting but the 300 "lost" meetings matter to the courses and to their staff etc. The 2022 fixture list is basically the same as 2021 so the notion of serious reform has been kicked down the road yet again. In the name of "entertainment", another attempt is being made to bolster the Sunday cards but that makes it even harder for everyone involved. We had Sunday late afternoon meetings this summer which ended at 7.30pm - we have evening racing nearly every day (thanks to floodlights). 

Is there a "solution"? Not a single one - several solutions perhaps. There are clear signs in terms of field sizes there are too many races for the horse population - today, there are seven races at Haydock and just 47 runners. At this time of year we should have 70+. 

[meomy 971]

It's not uncommon for anyone who works outdoors to have either a runny or stuffed nose especially with early in the morning fresh air and out in all the weather elements including rainy starts, or exposure to pollen and other allergens.

A little commonsense would go a long way rather than dumping people in the Covid19 category and denying them the basic fundamental rights to go out and earn a living.

This young man has stated he's got underlying conditions so it would go a long way to look at the situation logically.

One can only hope that his current employer and his family and friends help with sorting this out.

The Racing industry should be standing up to those who are calling the shots in Public Health who are generally based indoors, as most of those people have never ever examined a patient, nor are they legally qualified to form opinions about one's Private Health information that prior to the Twitter University Academics Data-mining on the internet was generally Confidential  information btwn a Doctor and their Patient.

It's overdue these Privacy Breaches were Ceased.

For those who are not aware, Covid19 has in many countries been downgraded to a passing influenza.

Australia and NZ are way behind accepted International common sense decision making.

It's time heads rolled..and these Public Health Advisors were held to account like Medical Professionals are if they Cause Harm, in this case one can only imagine the Mental Distress this young Jockey may be going through.

 

[drewandjo 129]

4 hours ago, meomy said:

For those who are not aware, Covid19 has in many countries been downgraded to a passing influenza.

and yet over 1600 people in the USA and 1000 in the UK died from Covid in the past week.......seems a little more serious than a "passing influenza"

[scoobysnacks 386]

61,000 people died of influenza in the US in the 2017-2018 season. (pre-covid)

In comparison to those figures, there isn't much difference.

[Gruff 2,790]

8,000 people die everyday in the US. 
You can throw numbers and stats around until the Cows come home.

From what we are hearing of the 1,220 deaths in Oz from the very  understated 100,000 cases the average age of death is 85.... Australian life expectancy is 83.64...  Highly Contagious and Deadly    Tom isnt a healthy individual and he’s got Delta, given what we’re told he shouldn’t be around to worry about paying the fine or Suspension 

But what we are told isnt the full truth .

 

[6xes 699]

its the crown(corona) of oppression plain and simple

everyone is feeling the effects, in every industry and every part of life

and although people feel the effects... some people are completely oblivious to the source from which it originates!!

(Revelation 12:3)

[meomy 971]

Everyone's overall Health is important, it simply should not be lumped into one disease.

Racing has a long history of being known to have close ties with Doctors on course to ensure Public Safety , look at Dr McGregor GRANT and others contributions.

One has to question if the likes of Tom Sherry, and other jockeys, Medical Information within those files are taken into account with legal action against them.

Those details are mitigating circumstances.

Some people have long histories of the same symptoms been used to diagnose Covid so why suddenly tell them that's what they have without including those background proven facts?

It's vital all people's rights to equality are returned.

We have recently learnt of the death of a youth who was fit and healthy, active and sports focused , (not a jockey)  like many who are jockeys, who in their wisdom got vaccinated and didn't have Covid.

It's overdue and should not ever have happened that Healthy people have had their sports, paid and unpaid, disrupted in the manner they have when there's already Regulations surrounding them.

Hospitals and the Medical Profession need to be able to go back to serving the core functions they were set up to do, to have Open Doors, get to know an individual circumstances and look after all people with a Duty of Care as per Hippocratic Oath.

 

[drewandjo 129]

19 hours ago, NextPlease said:

61,000 people died of influenza in the US in the 2017-2018 season. (pre-covid)

interesting you picked the year with the highest number in the last ten years...by a siginificant amount. The yearly average for the last 10 years is just over 33,000....a big difference to over 80,000

[Gruff 2,790]

3 hours ago, drewandjo said:

interesting you picked the year with the highest number in the last ten years...by a siginificant amount. The yearly average for the last 10 years is just over 33,000....a big difference to over 80,000

Keep digging. You havnt even scratched the surface . 

[scoobysnacks 386]

I chose the most recent year unaffected by Covid, actually....

[drewandjo 129]

8 hours ago, NextPlease said:

I chose the most recent year unaffected by Covid, actually....

which would surely be 2018/19....and the number there was 34,000........that's the problem with you head wearers of tinfoil...you seem to prefer "alternative facts" to the real ones

[scoobysnacks 386]

What does this have to do with Tom Sherry? How about sticking to the topic at hand.

[drewandjo 129]

you didn't seem to have a problem veering away from the topic until your "facts" were proven to not be correct........

[scoobysnacks 386]

It was in response to your off-topic post.

I stated only one fact, and it was not incorrect. Thanks for your input though.

[JJ Flash 2,132]

Another apprentice cops lengthy ban for Covid breach

Ellen Hennessy was banned on Monday for a Covid breach. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty Images

 

By Mitch Cohen
09:26pm • 27 September 2021

1

Comments

Apprentice Ellen Hennessy has become the latest rider to be slapped with a lengthy ban for a Covid breach after she was handed a nine-week suspension for breaching NSW Health Orders.

Racing NSW Stewards stood Hennessy down last Friday when she admitted to leaving her residence to visit a friend without a reasonable excuse.

In doing so, Hennessy was breaching both NSW Public Heath Orders and the strict Racing NSW Covid-19 policies for industry participants.

A follow up inquiry on Monday confirmed she had left her place of residence on September 18 and left the Greater Sydney area without having registered her travel.

She was hit with two charges at the inquiry for conduct detrimental to the interests of racing as well as breaching Racing NSW Policy.

Hennessy, who fronted the inquiry via video link along with her master, trainer Theresa Bateup, pleaded guilty to both charges.

Ellen Hennessy masked up in the mounting yard. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty Images

 

Stewards suspended Hennessy for three months, which was reduced to nine weeks for her guilty plea and the circumstances surrounding the visit.

She will be able to return to race riding on November 26.

Her lengthy ban comes just days after reigning champion Sydney apprentice Tom Sherry was suspended for four months for attending trackwork while awaiting the result of a Covid-19 test. The test was later discovered to be positive for Covid-19.

The now infamous ‘Airbnb Five’ scandal saw several of Victoria’s top jockeys also hit with spring bans.

Champion rider Jamie Kah, senior jockeys Ben Melham and Mark Zahra as well as Ethan Brown and apprentice Celine Gaudray, were hit with suspensions over the Mornington Airbnb party last month.

They then received further sanction for misleading stewards during investigations.

Canberra-based jockey Billy Owen and apprentice Teaghan Martin were outed for three months after pleading guilty to attending an illegal gathering last month that saw several stable-hands also rubbed out.

 

You have to wonder how stupid these people are? Do they not follow racing news and why the discount for an early guilty plea. The others did as well but got none.