It's an open-and-shut case - the French stewards were right to take Classic victory from Shes Perfect

Cheats, disgrace, would never happen in Britain, were some of the responses to the demotion of Shes Perfect from first place in the French 1,000 Guineas at Longchamp on Sunday. No doubt all that was said in the heat of the moment, but this was surely an open-and-shut case where the rules were administered in exactly the right way.

For years I've been of the opinion that the British way of stewarding is the worst in the world. In any other walk of life or in any other sport, if you're guilty of committing a crime or causing someone or something else harm, you're punished. Except, that is, for horseracing in Britain, where it seems you can do almost anything and, unless you win by a short head or less, nothing is going to happen. 

In any team sport if you make a foul you're penalised in some way. In motor racing, for example, the stewards are always calling time penalties on offending drivers, resulting in them losing places. In horseracing, however, you can stop a horse in its run and deny it any chance of winning, yet no action is taken by the officials.