This is an open letter to banned jockey Luke Tarrant. As reported in the Courier Mail, Tarrant was suspended for six months for taking a metabolite of cocaine.
Dear Luke,
If you do read this, you can say whatever you like about me. Don’t hold back, because I am not going to hold back either.
Mate, pull your head in.
Everyone makes mistakes, nobody can say otherwise, myself included. Everybody gets knocked down at some point in their life. What matters is how you pick yourself up. And it’s that second bit that has got a lot of people pissed off.
It started with the Instagram post, where you wore the cap with the phrase ‘Enjoy Coke’. Riding in a horse race is dangerous enough – steering around a 500kg horse at 60km/h. How would you have felt if you caused an injury or death due to riding in a race under the influence of a drug?
Then came a couple of other posts on social media, where you said that people are “judging someone they don’t even know”. In some cases, that is true, and I agree with you in that aspect.
The main thing that people have a problem with is your attitude subsequent to the suspension. Not once have I read, heard or seen you show any sort of remorse and regret.
Had you done that, then there would be no need for this open letter and the entire racing community would be behind you in getting you the support you need.
The reason for that is we all know you could be a potential premiership winner and multiple Group 1 winning rider.
But none of this will happen if you continue to conduct yourself the way you have.
So I say this with sincerity and hope. Pull your head in and show the racing world how good you are in the saddle.
Adam Page.
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