Bastiman actions inexcusable but case highlights the plight of small trainers

There was something slightly sad about last week's Bastiman case, not least because it reminded us that the bread and marge end of the training game is very much Lidl as opposed to Laurent-Perrier.

There is no defence of Robin Bastiman's actions but as my colleague Graham Dench's masterful report from the disciplinary hearing made clear, Bastiman came over during the case as "naive and disorganised".

He admitted lying to the panel on the first day of the hearing, which will endear him to no-one, but his remark that “in all my years in racing I never thought I would be banned for giving a horse a B12 injection – there wouldn’t be a trainer in the country who hasn’t given a horse a B12 injection” is food for thought.