McNamara: stewards dragged racing into gutter by not revealing Townend response

Trainer Robbie McNamara has accused Irish racing's regulator of dragging the sport into the gutter by failing to immediately reveal Paul Townend's explanation for his bizarre behaviour on Al Boum Photo, a decision the organisation claimed was taken due to concerns for the rider's mental state.

The Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board waited until 10.38am on Wednesday to confirm what Townend had told the Racing Post minutes earlier, namely that Willie Mullins' principal jockey at the Punchestown festival thought he heard a shout and that the final fence of the Growise Champion Novice Chase was to be bypassed.

Townend dragged race leader Al Boum Photo and Finian's Oscar out of the contest, after which he was handed a 21-day dangerous riding suspension from the IHRB racecourse stewards.

The former champion jockey failed to explain his actions at the time, with his silence, and that of the officials, causing numerous theories to be raised on social media.

"Twitter went mental and into complete rampage," said McNamara. "It was horrific for Irish racing. So many people already think Irish racing is fixed. That view could not be further from the truth, but by saying nothing about what Paul had said to them, the stewards increased people's negative opinions about the sport in Ireland.

"Paul or Willie probably should have said something themselves but the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board should definitely have said something. Why wait 15 hours when saying something straightaway would have cleared this up in people's minds immediately?

"I'm a good friend of Paul Townend, who is a genuine, very nice fellow, but everyone has to be treated the same way by the stewards, whether it's Paul, Willie Mullins or me.

"It seems to me the stewards didn't say anything because they were afraid of saying the wrong thing, but the sport has to be bigger than just Willie Mullins and Paul Townend."

Robbie McNamara was deeply critical of the stewards' silenceCredit: Patrick McCann

McNamara added: "It is absolutely laughable. If something controversial had happened during the FA Cup Final the world would not have been left wondering.

"There have been too many short-minded decisions, like moving our racing rights from At The Races to Racing UK. Too many mistakes are being made. Decisions like this one at Punchestown drag the sport into the gutter."

Explaining why there had been an overnight delay in revealing what Townend said in the inquiry, IHRB chief executive Denis Egan pointed out such an approach is not unusual in Ireland, and said: "The stewards, having considered the evidence and all aspects of the inquiry, including the wellbeing of the rider concerned, decided not to publish the evidence given until this morning.

"It should be noted that full details of evidence given at inquiries is not always published."

In Britain the BHA has moved in recent years to provide ever greater detail in inquiry reports, while the two jurisdictions also differ in that had such an event occurred on a big day in Britain, ITV would have been able to provide live coverage of Townend giving his evidence.

Despite efforts over many years, RTE has failed to persuade Irish jockeys to support allowing cameras into stewards' rooms.

Denis Egan says the Punchestown stewards were thinking of Paul Townend's wellbeingCredit: Patrick McCann

Egan said: "This was discussed some years ago and at the time the Turf Club [the predecessor of the IHRB] had no issue with TV cameras being allowed into certain types of inquiries, but the jockeys were against it and it didn’t proceed."

Confirming the televising of inquiries has bedded down smoothly in Britain, BHA spokesman Robin Mounsey said: "We wanted to open up stewards’ inquiries on the racecourse to cameras, not only as part of our bid to be more open and transparent about how we regulate the sport, but also to give the viewers at home some access behind the scenes.

"There were some initial reservations from participants when we first suggested the idea, which were understandable, but once we were able to move past these the process to get things approved was actually smoother than we were anticipating."

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