Jockey seen in leaked video snorting white powder claims she is victim of 'vendetta'

A jockey under investigation over a video in which she was filmed snorting a white powder believes she is the victim of ‘a vendetta against me’.

Apprentice rider Amy Graham, and another jockey Casey Waddell, both 28, were stood down by stewards in Queensland, Australia, this week after featuring in videos which were published online. Graham appeared before a stewards’ panel on Wednesday which was looking into a short video in which the jockey snorted a white powder from a saucer, according to Racenet.

The rider, supported by trainer Maryann Brosnan and represented by Jim Murdoch KC, said she believed the video was taken of her in Gold Coast in November last year but hadn’t realised she was being filmed.

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She claimed the video was taken by former housemate Waddell, with whom she has since fallen out.

"It seems I was ingesting some sort of white powder, I believe it was cocaine," Graham told the inquiry. "I wasn't initially aware it was being filmed.

"I then said ‘please delete that, it's not good'. I feel the footage has been leaked due to what feels like a vendetta against me."

Graham said it was a "one-off" incident that was filmed after she had ridden, the day before her birthday and days before she was to set off on a nine-day trek to Mount Everest base camp.

She admitted she had been "under the influence" and could not remember much of what happened. "I quite clearly made a silly mistake, it was just a one-off," Graham said.

Murdoch referenced a Victorian tribunal decision in December 2023 to dismiss a disrepute charge against top jockey Jamie Melham (nee Kah) after she was secretly filmed racking up lines of white powder as she did not know she was being filmed.

Stewards adjourned the hearing while they contact other potential witnesses.

Graham has not been charged by stewards. Waddell, who is on holiday in Europe, told Racenet she had provided a detailed submission to stewards ahead of her planned return on September 22.