Oisin Murphy has been charged with drink driving and failing to cooperate with a roadside test, following a serious car crash that left a woman in her twenties with critical injuries. The crash occurred in the early hours of Sunday, April 27th in Hermitage, West Berkshire. A grey Mercedes A-Class left the road and struck a tree. Oisin had been riding winners the day before. He missed his rides the day of the crash citing “travel issues.” He was back in the saddle by Monday.

That same week, Kia Joorabchian gave an interview that now feels prophetic. He didn’t mention Oisin, but he didn’t need to. He said racing was hiding too much. He said it felt like a secret society. He said two people had taken their own lives in yards recently. That people were breaking down and nobody was saying it out loud.

And now, the truth is spilling out anyway.

We have a problem. A transparency problem. A silence problem. A fear of saying anything unless it’s polished and PR-approved. If you part ways with a trainer, you can’t say why. If two horses die, you don’t talk about it. If a jockey is drinking too much, you look away until they crash—sometimes literally.

This is what happens when you build an industry on silence. It holds—for a while. Then it breaks.

The girl in that car is still in hospital. That cannot be ignored. Drink driving is not something you downplay because the person is famous, or good at what they do. It’s dangerous. It’s life-threatening. It’s selfish. But what drove him to that point?

This is a sport that protects its image more than its people. It wraps its problems in velvet and etiquette. It wears top hats while people break behind closed doors. And then it acts surprised when the crash comes.

Enough.

This isn’t about bashing Oisin Murphy. He has a problem. And that needs to be dealt with properly—with accountability, with consequences, and with real support.

But if you think he’s the only one, you’re kidding yourself.

We cannot keep treating incidents like this as isolated. They’re not. They’re symptoms of a system that doesn’t want to look in the mirror. That doesn’t want to really acknowledge the issues the way they need to be dealt with. To solve a problem, you must first admit you have one.

Racing has a lot of problems. Racing can and must do better. Racing needs to support it’s people and staff a whole lot better especially when they have issues like addiction or issues that are dangerous to those around them.

And one more thing… the abuse online won’t fix this. The gossip won’t fix this. Real reform will. Real mental health access. Real addiction services. Real transparency from governing bodies. Tangible, impactful work by the powers that be not superficial gestures or platitudes.

No more ducking. No more hiding. Face it, own it, fix it.

Because someone has been seriously injured. And a jockey, a person is in trouble again because he has not gotten the support he needs. Kia was 100% right on this.

And it really didn’t need to come to this. This will happen again if more isn’t done… and done NOW!!!

We’ll cover more about this across Ireland and the UK in the coming weeks.

Enough is enough.

Until Next Time,

Shane