Tommy Berry charged over O’Shea calls

Racing NSW stewards have charged jockey Tommy Berry with giving misleading evidence to an inquiry into the phone calls between himself and disqualified trainer John O’Shea earlier this month.

Berry was charged on Tuesday night and given until Friday to plead to the charge, which arose from his first interview with stewards at Warwick Farm on June 3 about his interactions with O’Shea.

Berry had won on Hovland for Tom Charlton, who was O’Shea’s training partner before his four-month disqualification for improper conduct, that day and sparked stewards’ interest in a post-race interview.

“I was a lot more positive this morning after speaking with Tom and John, and full credit to them, they didn’t want me to be that positive,” Berry said on Sky Racing.

As a disqualified person, O’Shea wasn’t allowed to interact with racing licensees about racing.

In the subsequent inquiry, Berry said his contact with O’Shea on four racedays was to see if he was all right and that it was mental health-related, as he knew what it was like to be disqualified.

“When I was riding a horse for that stable, it reminded me to check on John. That was all I was doing,” Berry said.

“I used to see him all the time at the track before this happened.”

 On each occasion, it was Berry that rang O’Shea.

Both were aware that they couldn’t talk about racing and stated that the conversations were short because of that.

O’Shea had cautioned his regular rider not to call him after he was disqualified.

The only charges from the inquiry have been laid against Berry.

O’Shea finishes his disqualification next month but would be open to it being restarted if he is found to have breached the rules.

Meanwhile, Northern Rivers jockey Raymond Spokes has been suspended for two months after being found guilty of two charges of sexual harassment.