Davy Russell has hit out at the media and insists he has been treated unfairly after being handed a four-day ban for punching a horse.
Russell's ban officially starts on September 19 and it comes after he was caught on camera punching Kings Dolly in the back of the head before the mares' handicap hurdle at Tramore on August 18.
The jockey was initially handed a caution but an appeals body reviewed the incident and he was handed a four-day suspension on Tuesday.
However, his punishment could be even more severe with the Turf Club now asking the appeals body to review the findings of the referral committee.
The 38-year-old has argued throughout the case that he was just trying to make the horse concentrate and he has shown little remorse.
Russell said: “There was no anger involved. There was no malice.
“I had no anger towards the filly. It was a matter of trying to get her back under control and trying to get her to pay attention.
Russell has now turned his anger on the media and feels that they have overstepped the mark by speaking about his family.
“What the press have done is unacceptable,” he added.
“Not just to me, but to my family as well. My family are involved as well. They were mentioned in articles along the way. It is not just me anymore. I have a wife and children.
“One of those children is 13 years of age. She knows what is going on. She's at secondary school and she has to deal with this as well. I'm a father as well as a horseman, and I'm a normal human being.
“Journalists have paid no regard to that and have kept going and going and going. In my eyes that is disgraceful. It's pretty obvious to everyone in this room that I have put that in a lenient way.”
