A former Caulfield Cup winning jockey has avoided conviction for his role in a botched attempted burglary.
Danny Nikolic and his friend, Patrick Lennon, a former lawyer attempted to steal items valued at over $150,000 from a property on Berkeley back in March 2025.
The two men had allegedly forced entry into the property at around 2am but a witness saw them and called triple zero.
Police arrested the pair shortly after and they were accused with taking a ladder, gloves and a torch equipped to steal.
Prosecutor Michael Roper had initially asked for the charges to be amended for both men to reflect the value of $177,000, which meant the matter could have been uplifted to the County Court.
However, the pair have accepted an offer to plead guilty to their offences of going equipped to steal/cheat.
Danny Nikolic (left) and Patrick Lennon (right) pleaded guilty to their offences of going equipped to steal/cheat
The pair had allegedly been caught with a ladder, gloves and torch
The deal carried it with a $1000 fine for each of the accused, with the case being decided at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.
Representing both Nikolic and Lennon, defence barrister Dermott Dann KC said the case had undergone significant ‘delay.’
He also claimed that the matter had received media scrutiny due to the high profile nature of Nikolic.
Magistrate Vincenzo Caltibiano agreed and accepted that they ‘lengthy’ delays had an impact on proceedings.
At the initial hearing Nikolic was asked about an outstanding assault charge by Magistrate Belinda Wallington, over an incident in 2021, which she said he was still on bail for.
Further details of the charge were not aired to court, but Nikolic said a lawyer had previously told him the matter had resolved and police had withdrawn the charges.
‘This is the first I’ve heard about it since, that was some years back,’ Nikolic said.
Nikolic, who won 32 Group One races including the 2003 Caulfield Cup, lost a bid to regain his jockey licence in 2017 after being banned from Victorian racecourses.
He also failed to obtain a licence to ride at provincial meetings in Queensland.
