Jockey guilty of using 'obscene, offensive and racially charged language' given huge ban

A legendary jockey who filmed himself making racist and offensive comments at people in the street has been given a huge ban from the sport.

Noel Callow, a well known figure in Australian horse racing with a chequered history, has ridden over 2,000 winners including five at Group 1 level earning over £20 million in Australia. He has a longstanding history of misconduct and in May this year was suspended for two months after he was concussed in a fight with another jockey which was started by 50-year-old Callow.

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He was issued with two more charges of conduct detrimental to the interests of racing in August after a video of his behaviour while he was riding a bike through Darwin became public.

Callow pleaded guilty when he appeared before a hearing of Queensland Racing Integrity Commission stewards.

In the first recorded incident Callow made derogatory comments including “you stink like f***”, “have a shower”, and mockingly referred to the man as “Yothu Yindi”, before singing lyrics from the Treaty anthem in a manner clearly intended to ridicule, the report said.

In the second while riding a bicycle on a footpath the video captures Callow saying: “Look at these c****”; o “Stop walking on the f****** footpath, you f****** c**ns,” and o “Get up the c**ns.”

Callow’s solicitor Matthew Stirling argued that the comments in the first instance should not be viewed as racist and unlikely to cause serious reputational damage to racing, while in the second his comments “were racist but made in passing”. He said it was unclear if anyone actually heard the remarks.

Though the jockey filmed the incidents the video was shared privately among friends who were asked not to share it.

Stirling referenced other similar cases in sport to push for a four to six week suspension but the panel said the Callow video aligned it more closely with cases such as Irish trainer Gordon Elliott, who was banned in 2021 after a photo emerged of him sitting on a dead horse on his phone, “where global media exposure magnified reputational harm”.

The stewards concluded: "Racist and obscene language, even if intended as misplaced humour as submitted by Mr Callow, is objectively offensive, blameworthy, and damaging to racing’sreputation once publicised.

"While Mr Callow contends that he only shared the footage with a limited number of associates, it remains the case that he created, recorded, and disseminated the material. That act initiated the chain of events which foreseeably led to wider publication.

"A licensed person bears responsibility for the risks inherent in recording and sharing offensive material. The fact that others may have contributed to its wider dissemination does not absolve Mr Callow of accountability for placing the content into circulation."

Callow was issued with a five month disqualification for both charges which will be served cumulatively.