A ride that deserved a medal - not this travesty of a non-trier ban

Nearly five years ago the Turf Club overhauled its running and riding rules following a spate of high-profile incidents that suggested the regulator was unable to effectively implement the rules as they stood.

The genesis of the revamp was the extent to which raceday stewards’ decisions were regularly failing to be upheld on appeal. A 61 per cent success rate betrayed a fundamental concern from legally robust appeals panels that judgements were open to being challenged in a court of law.

That anxiety had been starkly illustrated in 2016 when connections of Pyromaniac won a High Court stay pending a judicial review, which permitted a horse who had been banned for 42 days under the non-triers’ rule to contest the Galway Hurdle.