Jockey Christophe Lemaire banned for a month for using Twitter at racetrack in Japan

Who knew retweeting could be so bad for your livelihood?

If you thought your Monday was bad then imagine how Christophe Lemaire feels. He's not going to be able to go to work for the next 30 days because he retweeted something on Twitter and Japanese racing authorities say it broke the rules. The jockey,who was just fully recovered from a broken leg, was due to ride at Hanshin when track officials took him aside and informed him he would be able to mount any of his six scheduled rides for the day. They explained that he broke rules on being in touch with anyone outside of the racetrack by being on his phone and was so suspended from action. This is the last tweet on his account which it seems hasn't been active since the weekend: https://twitter.com/christo68914587/status/571242268700516354 According to the Racing Post, JRA Paris representative Fumitaka Tsuruoka explained why he had received such a serious ban

'He has been suspended for 30 days, from [March 1] until March 30 because he used Twitter. It is prohibited for riders to contact people outside during their quarantine at a JRA facility. The decision was taken by the Hanshin racecourse stewards and there is no appeal.'

The 35-year-old will now miss his ride on  Japanese Derby winner One And Only in the Dubai Sheema Classic on March 28 with the punishment a bit harsh for a fairly harmless tweet. We wouldn't be surprised if someone found his phone crushed under the hoof of his next ride in April.