Other sports embrace fair play while racing remains hamstrung by its own rules

As a spectacle, Saturday’s Coral-Eclipse Stakes really hit the spot. A well-matched field, a scramble up the Sandown hill in which two colts duelled hard, a stewards’ inquiry for consumption by the viewing public and the 'right' result in which the best horse kept the race after a stewards’ inquiry.

It was all of the above, but it was something more besides. Head-on replays of a finish in which Oisin Murphy made no discernible effort to straighten up a hanging Roaring Lion illustrated just how impotent are the rules governing interference.

If it’s ruthlessness you’re after, you have to tip your hat to Murphy. There was precious little time for him to weigh up his options but he made absolutely the right calls.