JOCKEY v. TRAINER Slander Action

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLV, Issue 21210, 3 December 1938, Page 9

JOCKEY v. TRAINER Slander Action

Brought Incident After Ascot Race LONDON, November 7.

An episode after the Gold Cup race at Ascot last year, which had been a topic of conversation in lacing and society circles for many months, had a sequel in the King’s Bench Division last week. An action alleging slander and assault was brought by Tommy Burns, Irish trainer and ex-jockey, against J. Jarvis, a Newmarket trainer. Burns alleged that after the race Jarvis assaulted him and accused him of foul riding. He also alleged that the trainer came up to him in the weighing room, got hold of his shoulder, and said he had deliberately interfered with a horse. He called him names and made aggressive signs with an umbrella. Jarvis denied publication of the slander, denied the assault, and pleaded, alternatively, privilege and justification. The case was settled on the second day of the hearing, when the charge of foul riding was withdrawn unreservedly, and Jarvis agreed to pay substantial damages. An ordei for the payment out to Burns of £450. which had been paid into court, was made. Sir Patrick Hastings, K.C., for Burns, said that Jarvis alleged against Burns such foul riding in a particular race that, if it were true, the only appropriate remedy would be that he should be warned off the course. The Ascot Gold Cup n.ce of 1937 was about two and a-half miles, and in the course of it the horses passed the grandstand twice. Burns rode. Raeburn, trained by Mr Lawson. In the same race was Fearless Fox, ridden by E. Smith, and trained by Jarvis. The race was won by Precipitation. Incident in Weighirg-in Room “While Burns was .n the weighingin room after the race.” continued Sir Patrick, “Jarvis, who appears to be a man of somewhat odd temper, rushed into the room, took Burns by the neck, and hit him with an umbrella. He called him most offensive names. Jarvis mentioned certain peculiarities in his own words, and said: ‘You so and so have interfered with my horse,’ or words to that effect.” Burns found Jarvis’s words too much for him to keep quiet. He went straight to Weatherby's to put a complaint before the stewards of the Jockey Club. Burns told the stewards what ha I happened. Jarvis denied the allegations, and said that Burns interfered with his horse. Burns, Jarvis, and Smith gave evidence, and, as a result, the stewards fined Jarvis £5O, a substantial way of marking their view of his behaviour in the weighing-in room. “The explanation oi this race may be a simple one,” said Sir Patrick Hastings. “A tragedy happened to my jockey his trainer, and the owner. As Raeburn came into the st.aight for the last time he suddenly broke down I should imagine the effect of that on the horses near and behind may have been very disastrous. A breakdown may be slight or temporary. But so badly did Raeburn break down, and go all over the course, that he had be pulled up. Burns got off and, with great difficulty, began to lead him back to the paddock. Two Bones Broken “A veterinary surgeon was sent for. and it was found that the horse had caught his foot in the soft ground or something, and broken two bones in his off fore leg. He was removed in an ambulance, and has never been able to race again.” When Burns’s solicitors wrote to Jarvis about it, Jarvis, through his solicitors, said he naturally regretted that he should have been led to use the expressions he lad towards the jockey, and that it was not true that any statement abous Burns having interfered with Fearless Fox was uttered in the weighing-in room, but in the jockey’s dressing room, and was based on information given to Jarvis by two jockeys who rode in the race.

The statements, he added, vvere made in the bona fide belief that the information was true and in defence of his interests. In those circumstances it was claimed that the statements appeared to be privileged. That letter was considered a very satisfactory one by Burns. Sir Patrick Hastings went on to say that the stewards of the Jockey Club watched the race, and if there was any foul riding they would at once bring the foul rider before them. But, if they did not. the trainer would at once bring the jockey before the stewards.

Jockey’s Account '•* Race Burns, giving evidence, said that on coming into the straight Raeburn seemed to falter. He completely broke down, and pulled up himself. In doing that he may have interfered with the horses behind. He did n t know how Raeburn broke his leg. He did not ride into Fearless Fox, Smith’s mount, or cause him to pull up. When he got into the weighing-in room with his saddle on his arm. Jarvis camo straight up to him, got hold of his left sho* Ider, called him an ill-bred Irish and said, “Do you think you can come over to this country and interfere with my horses? I have got a good mind to knock yo~r head off.” Jarvis had an umbrella in his hand and was going to push It into his face. Sir Patrick: He made aggressive signs with it?—Yes. Steve Donoghue, the trainer and former jockey, stated in evidence that there was rot the slightest sign of Burns fouling Smith in the race. Any fouling could not Eave taken place without being visible to him. Donoghue corroborated Burns’s account of the incident after the race, and Thomas Weston, the Newmarket jockey, also said Burns’s account of it was accurate. “A Very Angry Man” Opening the case, for the defendant, M; Norman Birkett, K.C., said: “This most regrettable occurrence occupied at the most two minutes. They were the words of a very ai.ro man. He was an angry man who believed, rightly or wrongly, that an injustice had been done to his horse and his jockey. The

words use, however regrettable from the point of view of taste, never meant anything of a very serious imputation except the one matter of alleging interfering with Fearless Fox.” Jarvis, in evidence, gave his account of his meeting with Bums after the race, and said: “I ;aia to him, ‘lf ever you interfere with one of my horses again I’ll report you to the stewards.’ ” “Burns said: T didn’t interfere with your horse.’ I said: ‘Smith ->aid you did,’ and Burns replied: ‘lt was not what I did to him; it was what he did to me ’ “When I saw he was trying to switch it on to the boy,” Mi Jarvis proceed-d, “I swore at him; said he was an Irish , and that I should like to punch his head.” Jarvis said he did not touch Burns in any way or threaten him with the umbrella which he was carrying on his arm. Jarvis said he told the stewards that he had seen ds horse have a bad run, and that Smith had told him that Burns had messed him about all the way round and had nearly knocked him over the rails. He also told the stewards that the jockey Rickaby had confirmed that. Settlement Announced On the following day, when hearing was- resumed, Mr Birkett announced a settlement and said the terms were satisfactory to both parties. “As an earnest of the attitude Jarvis cakes up, I am instructed, on his behalf, to say that Burns is entitled to go back to Eire to conduct his profession there with the knowledge that the imputation of foul riding has been unreservedly withdrawn,” he said. “Having listened to the evidence, Jarvis is quite satisfied that it is perfectly possible for mistakes to be made. He desires, in the plainest nd frankest terms, that I should say he is satisfied that the charge against Burns cannot possibly be sustained.” Sir Patrick Hastings said he was mainly concerned to establish beyond question that the charge made against Burns was without foundation. “Jarvis was perfectly honest in what he did. I do not think anything could be more straightforward and manly than the way in which he has now i come forward and said that Burns ought to be completely exonerated. In that way the whole purpose of the action has been served. The plaintiff’s career now can continue untarnished by this incident.” “Very Satisfactory Conclusion” Mr Justice Hawke s:.id he thought the case had come to a very satisfactory conclusion, and that both parties had been very well advised. Jarvis, on the on? side, had been very frank and was to be congratulated on his frankness. “There is no shame i withdrawing when you have made a mistake. I am very glad to hear of the attitude he has taken up,” his lordship continued. “As to Burns, I am glad to think that he has not followed the conduct of Oliver Twist and ‘asked for more.’ Lastly, it is so satisfactory to knew that, when people are engaged in this great sport, they realise that they have got to live together afterwards and be friends” “I Was Under a Cloud” "Now that my name is cleared I can be happy in the job I have always j loved—my job among the horses,” • Burns said to a turf correspondent. “Jarvis and I are friends now. All the trouble is a thing of the past. I was most reluctant to take the action against Jarvis. If only he had said, ‘Tommy, I’ve made a mistake,’ I should have forgiven the whole unfortunate incident. I had no option but to go to law. I felt that I was under a cloud that looked like shadowing my whole career.” Tommy has ridden in about 10,000 races and won nearly 1000.