Gordon Elliott did nothing wrong in the Troytown - but racing's rule-makers still need to wake up soon

A front-page headline in our Tuesday edition declaimed 'Elliott defends decision to run 14 in Troytown' but, if you ask me, he had nothing to defend himself against. The story concerned Sunday's big handicap at Navan, in which Gordon Elliott saddled 14 of the 20 runners and also dominated the finish, training the first, third, fourth and fifth.

Participants in elite sport are bound to seek any edge they can find within the rules and surely none of us objects to that? We want to see the best possible version of our sport and that requires those involved to have their game faces on at all times. We don't want people to be soft-pedalling their efforts. There's no place in racing for: "After you, Claude."

Can you imagine Elliott at declaration time, musing to himself: "But if I run all these horses, it might be unfair on Gavin and Willie. Other people need prize-money too, this isn't the only operation with overheads that need paying for."