Irish jockey Oisin Murphy will not ride again this year after being banned for 14 months for breaching Covid rules and failed breath tests.
The three-time British flat racing Champion Jockey will be ineligible to reapply for his riding licence for 11 months after admitting to breaking Covid regulations, misleading the British Horseracing Authority and prejudicial conduct.
The 26-year-old Kerry native has also been given an additional 100 days for alcohol breaches after two racecourse incidents during 2021, including failing a breathalyser test at Newmarket in October of last year.
Murphy lied to the BHA about a holiday to then red-listed Mykonos in September 2020 and did not carry out the mandatory two-week isolation upon his return.
Instead, he rode 11 winners in that period, telling the authorities he had been in Lake Como.
Murphy was eventually caught out by a photograph on Instagram.
The cases were heard simultaneously on Tuesday by a three-person panel, chaired by James O'Mahony in the presence of Rachel Spearing and Anthony Connell, with the charges combined after Murphy's legal team applied for an extension in December.
Handing out the punishment, O'Mahony told Murphy:
“You thought you were above the rules and the law. However high you are, you are not above those. They apply to all.
“Reference has been made to three breaches of Covid regulations. Breaches of regulations can apply to a whole range of things.
“For example, a family who lives in a 14-floor-high-block breaking lockdown to have a walk in the park. This level of offending is very different.
“You knew all along that you had to self-isolate, that’s all you had to do, as countless others did. But you embarked on a deception that was planned, carefully calculated and detailed and it was prolonged for a significant period of time. You only put your hands up, with your back against the wall.”
Murphy had already handed his licence in after details emerged of his problems with alcohol in November last year.
But he will not be able to reapply for his licence until February 16, 2023.
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