No laughing matter when amateurish sideshows overshadow the main events

Anyone looking for inspiration to write a racing-themed sitcom would have collected enough material over the past five days for a bumper first series after some farcical scenes on Britain's racecourses.

Yet these events, which put racing in the headlines for the wrong reasons, are way beyond a laughing matter for the sport.

Thursday should have been a day of celebration for that little gem of a West Country racecourse Taunton, with a rare appearance on ITV. Yet a rider taking the wrong turn into a makeshift changing room dominated anything that happened on the track.