No winner in Mullins' row with stewards - and I don't know which side was worse

One of life's inalienable truths is surely that compromise is both required and inevitable if we aren't all to live in a harrowing vortex of various unending states of conflict.

No-one can win every argument so there are times when we need to cede a little ground to avoid a world defined by entrenched stasis. Dispute resolution depends on either one or both opposing parties budging en route to a satisfactory outcome. If neither happens, stalemate ensues.

This is what unfolded at Cork on Monday afternoon when Stratum, the single most interesting runner on the card in one of the day's feature races, was withdrawn by order of the stewards. It really shouldn't have come to that.