Regulator is playing with fire by failing to enforce interference rules properly

If Patrick Mullins danced a little jig as he descended the metaphorical steps of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board’s judiciary offices last Thursday, it would have been understandable. He had dodged a bullet.

It is not this column’s intention to trivialise, but to be frank the IHRB’s referrals panel already did that in its remarkably lenient take on the incident in which Doctor Duffy fell on the flat after being impeded by Mullins’ mount Eileen O at Listowel last month.

The skirmish was not dealt with by the stewards on the day as Doctor Duffy’s rider Richie Deegan was hospitalised with a concussion and a fractured arm following what was a horrendous fall. So, with Deegan recovered, the referrals committee, chaired by Nick Wachman, convened at IHRB headquarters last week.