Welfare cases should act as warning to those falling short of accepted standards

I sat in on a virtual disciplinary hearing last week that centred on the serious topic of horse welfare but descended into farce on more than one occasion.

The case concerned Northern Ireland-based trainer Liam Lennon's decision to leave two unnamed horses in his lorry overnight at Ayr racecourse last year, actions for which he received fines totalling £5,000.

The small-scale County Down trainer chose to defend himself, saying he could not afford a barrister, but he was ill equipped to do so. It is always tough going up against the might of the BHA's expert team of prosecutors and, if this had been a boxing bout, it would have been stopped in the first round.