Hopefully we're now moving on from the Gordon Elliott debacle. The final chapter (well, that should probably read 'one of the more recent chapters') seemed to be pretty much everyone airing their view on whether or not 'they (the IHRB stewards) got it about right'. I'm not going to join them. As I made clear in the last chapter, I had no idea what the correct punishment should have been, and I was glad that it wasn't up to me to decide. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that racing should be seen to be dissociating itself from the callousness and lack of respect and feeling for the animals which that photograph applies. Has 'racing' (whatever that means) sufficiently done that? Has 'Irish racing'? Has 'British racing'? I suppose we'll only find out the answer to that one as time goes on.
One thing which I did enjoy from the IHRB's summation was the moral support which it gave me. (No, that sentence is not a misprint). I got it in the neck a bit for saying that the act of sitting on a dead horse in itself was not sufficient to bring racing into disrepute, but that that only happened if such an act was subsequently publicised (which I'd have thought was beyond dispute); and for being scathing of the so-called whistle-blower. It turned out that the IHRB (who, of course, didn't charge him with either sitting on a dead horse or bringing racing into disrepute, but under the catch-all 'acting in a manner prejudicial to ...') was even less impressed by the contribution of the so-called whistle-blower than I was, referring to that side of it being the 'sinister aspect'. (And, incidentally, neither it nor I used the term 'whistle-blower'.)
I'm actually surprised that anybody referred to the publicist as a whistle-blower. This wasn't 'whistle-blowing' (which I'd generally encourage). Whistle-blowing is when one has evidence of wrong-doing and takes that evidence to the authorities or - probably better, and if one suspects that the mess might be swept under the carpet - the police. Whistle-blowing isn't doing nothing for two years before and then going to neither the authorities nor the police, but instead publishing the evidence on the internet in a "sinister" manner as "part of a concerted attack" on the miscreant in a way likely to do the most to damage. I'm surprised that anyone ever fell for the idea of the so-called whistle-blower acting from praise-worthy or noble motives. The IHRB certainly didn't.
What should be done about the so-called whistle-blower? The Irish stewards clearly think that nothing should be done beyond expressing their low opinion of him/her (which they have done via the IHRB statement) and I'm certainly not going to say that they're wrong. Letting sleeping dogs lie is often a good idea. I do it often enough. I'd presume that they'll also be letting sleeping dogs lie as regards the second six-month segment of the 12-month ban. I like the (unprecedented, I'd imagine) idea of part of a penalty being suspended without any mention of how long it will be suspended for, and what offence in that time would be required to trigger its imposition. Being late into the parade ring? Sitting on a dead horse again? Whatever, I'd imagine that we'll never know.
So that's that: if you're looking for the millionth opinion on whether 'they got it about right', don't come to me. If you want to hear how well Mark Crehan is doing, though, you can come to me. Mark was a bit unlucky the other evening when Hollie Doyle rode the winners of five consecutive races at Kempton because her achievement meant that very few people noticed the figures with which he ended the day. Hollie ended the day with five wins from her last six rides; Mark wasn't far behind because I think that he ended it with seven wins from his last 10 rides. And he's continued in similar form: I believe that he ended yesterday with 11 wins from his last 20 rides. He's definitely getting it (more than) about right.
Continuing the on-going overview of local apprentices (and jockeys) and young(ish) or new(ish) trainers, Mark's boss George Boughey clearly has to be mentioned in dispatches yet again, and not just for winning four races in 13 days with Khatm, who was bought out of Godolphin for 8,000 guineas by Sam Haggas' Hurworth Bloodstock at Tattersalls' Horses in Training Sale at the end of October, having had one run for Saeed bin Suroor (finishing tenth) in 2019 and none in 2020. That's great work by all involved. George, incidentally, ended yesterday having trained eight winners from his last 15 runners.
Otherwise, it's been good to see both Eoin Walsh (at Southwell) and Liam Jones (at Kempton) finally back on the racecourse after an extended spell on the side-lines as the result of very bad injuries. Eoin actually did well to come back as quickly as he did, while Liam has clearly done well to come back at all. We can just about bring Josh Quinn into the discussion here as, although he's now back in Malton, he's from here, having grown up in Cheveley, and was working for Roger Varian last year. He got off to a good start race-riding when he was with Richard Fahey but that had stalled, so I was glad when Roger took out a license for him again last year. I didn't include him in our overview a few weeks ago as, when I checked, I found that he was not currently licensed.
I hadn't seen him for a while, and now the mystery is solved: he has gone back up to Malton and is now apprenticed to Julie Camacho. I'm pleased to see that he's had three rides in the past fortnight (two for Julie, one for Roy Bowring) and all have been placed. I'd like to think that he can now start to make progress again. He should do as he's a much more experienced rider now and genuinely rides very well. And the other similar mystery was solved when I found that Gaia Boni, formerly with William Jarvis but similarly unlicensed when I checked at the start of the year, has also gone up to Malton and is with Nigel Tinkler.
I'd guess that that might be quite a good move on Gaia's part, and I hope that we'll see her doing well this summer too. As will (I expect and hope) will be the case with Rhiain Ingram who is a local apprentice once again (having been with Richard Spencer for a season probably three years ago, after which I think she went to Paul George in Devon and then back to her dad in Epsom). She's joined Gay Kelleway and I'll be very surprised if she doesn't do well there. I imagine that Gay will give her plenty of support, and she can expect to start picking up a decent amount of outside rides too as the season goes on. She's still claiming 5lb (although I don't think that that will last long) and that's one of the better-value allowances that you'll ever see.
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