Riding through the show jumping storm
Rumination over, however, he lays it on the line: "I would have to think twice about riding on a team with Cian if he is found guilty and isn't banned."
Speaking out against a fellow rider sits uncomfortably with Babington, and he quickly qualifies his statement: "We'll have to wait to see what happens.
"But, if they find against him, then it would be sending the wrong message if there was no ban in place. If they don't impose a ban, the riders will have to think about what's best," he says.
O'Connor, meanwhile, says he hopes riders will be professional enough to put any differences aside and he hopes he can play his part in the Samsung Super League and this year's European Championships.
Babington's sentiments are understandable. Part frustration, part anger, they follow a year of upheaval in the sport. Ultimately his comments reveal a divide in the sport that shows no sign of narrowing.
At Christmas there was little goodwill from his contemporaries when O'Connor was acclaimed by the little-known Show-jumpers' Club as International Rider of the Year. After the highs of Athens, the sport suddenly had a whiff of sulphur.
Twelve months ago the picture was so different. The 50th anniversary of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland (SJAI) had dawned full of expectation in 2004, but with each passing week hopes dimmed, with squalid in-fighting among the ranks of the sport's hierarchy, riders and administrators.
Meanwhile, with the Irish Sports Council looking on in horror, the Equestrian Federation of Ireland stepped in and took over control of the senior team from the Show Jumping Association.
It was hardly the best Olympic preparation, and the bad blood didn't help in the wake of the O'Connor controversy.
Whether O'Connor keeps his gold medal remains to be seen. This month he made an 18-page written submission to the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) on the presence of the human anti-psychotic drugs fluphenazine and zuclopenthixol in Waterford Crystal. He is also likely to face the FEI Judicial Committee in mid-February for a verbal hearing. O'Connor maintains the quantities of the drugs were so minute as to afford him no performance-enhancing benefit.
Regardless, the questions remains: has gold turned to lead and become a weight around the neck of the sport?
Babington, who rode the Irish-bred Carling King to joint fifth in the Olympics behind O'Connor, concedes he was "disillusioned" approaching Christmas. "At the end of the season, the wind was taken out of my sails with everything that happened," said the Carrick-on-Suir rider.
Babington acknowledges that any chance of money and patronage flooding the sport has dried up. "What happened after the Olympics was a missed opportunity and, as far as sponsorship, irreparable damage may have been done," he says.
The legendary Tommy Wade has no doubt that the political strife will ensure the sport generates the wrong headlines.
"I expect that we will perform badly in the Samsung Super League and the European Championships. The proper set-up is not there," said Wade.
Describing 2004 as a "year of pure madness," he makes no attempt to hide his ire for the EFI.
"We [the Show Jumping Association] have always run our own affairs, but it's time we put our foot down and not let the EFI railroad us," said Wade.
The EFI is the Irish representative for the International Equestrian Federation and, as such, is the ruling body in Ireland.
With its own representatives on the EFI executive, the show jumping body nevertheless has always had an uneasy relationship with the federation. The latter's decision to relinquish the SJAI of team management did nothing for relations.
"Our people in the SJAI are getting weaker and weaker. It's looking bad to me. The EFI are looking to take over everything. It is not capable of running show jumping ... The SJAI is on a loser the whole way," said Wade.
Ultimately he feels O'Connor will retain his medal, but he lashed out at the 25-year-old's contemporaries.
"The Irish are famous for whispering. They will respect a foreign sportsman but will pull down an Irishman," he said.
Peter Leonard, chairman of the Show Jumping Association of Ireland selectors until this year, said the outlook for the sport was uncertain, and he feels the loss of Wade as a selector is a mortal blow.
"Wade was a great servant to the sport. Ireland achieved unprecedented success with him in charge as a selector and chef d'equipe. I foresee 2005 being very difficult. We also have the European Championships to contend with," he said.
There is also the question of State assistance. Last year, the Irish Sports Council allocated show jumping 820,950 for equestrianism identifying it, ironically, as an Olympic medal prospect. This largesse is distributed by the EFI.
A number of years ago, show jumping was denied its annual State funding on the recommendation of the EFI, when the sport again found itself mired in controversy. The SJAI are in negotiations to regain control of the senior team but will have to show their credentials are beyond reproach.
While it is up to riders to ensure the sport reclaims the back pages this year, they depend on horsepower, and the portents are not good.
Marion Hughes sold her Olympic mount Heritage Fortunas, while Peter Charles looks set to continue in the doldrums without a top-class mount. Babington, meanwhile, has indicated he will limit his travel to Europe this season unless the federation covers his transport costs (30,000 last year, he says). German-based Antrim rider Jessica Kurten, who was leading the race for gold in Athens only to tumble down the rankings with a disastrous round, will try to make amends. On the plus side, Cork men Billy Twomey and Robert Splaine are due to make re-appearances as their stallions Luidam and Coolcorron Cool Diamond return from injury.
The two primary targets are the Samsung Super League and the European Championships. With the focus on the Olympics last year, Ireland was lucky to maintain its Super League status, with Italy relegated. They are replaced this year by the superior Swiss, meaning Ireland cannot count on the Italians as whipping boys in order to keep us among the world's eight best countries.
The European Championships will also prove a stiff test.
However, one thing will stand to a sport that has a track record of surmounting obstacles in the ring and beyond it has plenty of practice.
