Gibbons' breath smelled of alcohol at Kempton, Jim Crowley tells High Court

Graham Gibbons' breath smelled strongly of alcohol on the day in 2016 that horses ridden by him and Freddy Tylicki collided at Kempton, Jim Crowley told the High Court on Tuesday.

The former champion jockey was giving evidence on the second day of a week-long hearing at which Tylicki, who was paralysed by the subsequent fall, seeks to establish that Gibbons was to blame and should have to pay him substantial damages, which Gibbons denies.

"It was quite a common occurrence," Crowley said of smelling alcohol on Gibbons' breath while the two were working. "I was used to it and so were other members of the weighing room."

Crowley did not argue with a suggestion from Gibbons' barrister, Patrick Lawrence QC, that Gibbons had not given any other sign of being under the influence. Lawrence added that, if he had, Crowley would have been duty bound to report it to the stewards.

Gibbons admitted to his long struggles with alcohol when taking to the witness stand later. He acknowledged he had lost his licence for drink-driving on four occasions, had been imprisoned for the same reason and had been banned from race-riding at one stage after testing positive for cocaine and asking an apprentice to swap urine samples in an attempt to evade a drugs test.

Cross-examined by Edward Faulks QC, representing Tylicki, Gibbons was asked if he had ever ridden horses under the influence of alcohol. "Maybe," he replied.

Gibbons flatly denied riding horses under the influence of drugs. Asked about the occasion on which he failed a raceday test for cocaine, he offered: "It was in my system, but I wasn't under the influence."

He sought to cast doubt on Crowley's recollection of there being alcohol on his breath on the specific day of the Kempton incident, saying: "That's one person's opinion of that one day. There were 35 other jockeys in the weighing room on the same day and none of them smelled alcohol, and if they had, the stewards would have been alerted."

But Gibbons did not rule out the possibility that Crowley may have been right. When pressed by Faulks, he said he could not himself be sure but described Crowley's assertion as "questionable".

Graham Gibbons: described Jim Crowley's assertion as 'questionable'Credit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Their fellow jockey Pat Cosgrave travelled back from Dubai to give evidence, conceding he had changed his stance since telling stewards on the day that Tylicki had been "ambitious" in moving forwards between Gibbons' mount and the rail.

"In my opinion, he was nearly upsides at one point on the bend, or close to it, so there was obviously room to go there at some stage," he told the court. "If there wasn't, he would never have got that far."

Asked why he had not told the stewards that, Cosgrave said: "It's a code of conduct in the weighing room to stay as neutral as possible, to not get involved or say too much."

Judge Karen Walden-Smith pressed him on that point and he said: "It hadn't that much to do with me. It was for the stewards to determine between Mr Gibbons and Mr Tylicki whose fault it was."

Lawrence suggested his evidence was affected by "a perfectly natural perception that Mr Tylicki has suffered terrible injuries and it would be a good thing if he got some compensation", which Cosgrave denied.

At another point in his questioning, Lawrence provoked brief sensation in the court by asking Cosgrave: "Are you aware on the jockeys' grapevine of a disgraceful incident a few months ago when a well-known former jockey tried to pressure Mr Gibbons to give evidence to help Freddy Tylicki and then assaulted him?"

"No," replied Cosgrave, as Faulks shot to his feet, describing the question as "out of the blue" and not mentioned pre-trial, including in Gibbons' own statement.

"It's not material to any case I want to advance," Lawrence told the judge. "I'm putting it to this witness, as I think I'm entitled to do." The alleged incident was not mentioned again, including while Gibbons gave evidence.

Asked about the mid-race incident which resulted in Tylicki's injuries, Gibbons insisted his mount Madame Butterfly had never been more than half a horse's width from the inside rail after starting to turn out of the back straight. He said he had had no idea that Tylicki on Nellie Deen was on his inner until he felt contact from behind and heard the other man cry: "Gibbo!"

Watching footage of the race, he insisted there had been insufficient room for Nellie Deen to move up his inner. "At no point was he alongside me. The closest he got to me was just behind my boot, which was out of my sight."

Crowley saw the incident differently from his position immediately behind Nellie Deen. "When Mr Tylicki went into the gap, I had no concerns because Mr Gibbons' horse was clearly off the rail," he said. Nellie Deen had gone into the gap "without any encouragement from her jockey", Crowley added.

Lawrence asked Crowley about Mohaafeth's win at Royal Ascot this summer, which led to a six-day ban for the rider after the horse hung across the track, interfering with Ryan Moore's mount. Crowley said the two cases were different and that Moore had not shouted to him at any stage.

The hearing continues on Wednesday, when expert evidence is expected to be heard. Moore and Jim McGrath of Sky Sports Racing are to be called by Tylicki, while Gibbons relies on Charlie Lane.

Read more on this subject:

Tylicki recalls 'shout for survival' as claim against Gibbons is heard in court

Freddy Tylicki's case against Graham Gibbons to be heard in court this week

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