Under-fire jockey Danny Nikolic says he has been buoyed by the support he has had during the long-running inquiry into his association with a trip of warned-off punters.

Nikolic was visibly drained when he walked out at the end of the three-day hearing but said he looked tired because of weight loss efforts on Wednesday morning, which proved to be futile after the jockey forfeited his rides at the day’s Moonee Valley meeting.

“I worked to lose the weight on Wednesday but actually had to miss the rides because I had to be in my barrister’s chambers earlier than I thought,” he said.

Nikolic remained silent about the particulars of the case against him but did say fellow jockeys and trainers had largely stuck by him during the six-month investigation.

“I would say 99 percent of the other jockeys have been supportive and given me a lot of confidence,” he said. “Especially when I was told by my barrister not to hand my phone over. Every one of them said they didn’t believe I should have to.

“A lot of trainers have been terrific with me. A couple have dropped off but I can’t do much about that but, on the whole, people in the industry have been quite supportive.”

Nikolic said punters have been “pretty good” since the stewards charged him with improper conduct and conduct prejudicial to the interests of racing rather than the more serious running and handling offences.

“The public over the fence at the races have a joke about it,” Nikolic said. “The most common line is a punter would say “give us a call, Nikolic”.

“As time has gone by, I have had a lot of support from the public. Largely, because there is no proof of me doing anything wrong and especially when there were no charges laid on the AR135 (a) or (b).

“The public would know they were pretty serious charges but there were none of those and no trainers have voiced a concern on any of my rides.”

Nikolic resumes riding at Thursday’s Ballarat meeting but said getting back to riding trackwork would be the most important thing he needs to do in the short-term to boost the quality of rides he is getting.

The Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board will hand down its findings on the Nikolic case on Tuesday at 10am.

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