Omissions should not detract from welcome reforms

When the BHA committed to publishing Christopher Quinlan's report in full it might have feared what it would contain, given the feeling in some quarters that the current system was deficient and suffering a crisis of legitimacy.

As it happens, the QC's report leaves the current system, and those who operate it, essentially unscathed. Everyone involved is praised. Criticism of the system, where deployed, is tempered. Quinlan prefers to discuss what should not be done in the future rather than what was done wrongly in the past.

There are no opinions expressed about the employment of Matthew Lohn or the Jim Best case, nor about the BHA's employment of a licensed trainer, Graeme McPherson QC, as its regular counsel. Given these are the names most frequently cited in recent complaints about the disciplinary system some may be surprised to see them in effect absent from a review into the subject, although we knew the Best case would not form part of the review as Quinlan was not asked to investigate it.