that photograph!

​Let me be clear; I have not seen the photograph of Gordon Elliott sitting on or standing astride a fallen horse, a horse that might or might not have died on his gallops. I have not heard Elliott’s side of the story and because of the grave consequences to the image of the sport I hope there is an explanation that will clear his name and restore his reputation.
At the moment, the guiding hand here should be that Gordon Elliott is innocent until proven guilty and until his case is heard I will presume him innocent. I hope others will too.
Anyone with experience of working with horses will be aware that if there is a need to restrain a horse that has fallen for whatever reason from getting up, sitting astride it, especially someone with a bit of weight about them, is a good stopgap method. I am assuming, of course, that this horse was not dead but still alive, no doubt badly injured and Elliott was acting in an effort to save it from further injury or distress. When a horse is cast in its box (its legs up the sides of the stable with insufficient room to right itself), for instance, sitting on its neck will hopefully give someone enough time to find a lunge-rope so that two people can gentle turn the horse over so that it can get up. So, sitting on a prone horse is not necessarily a welfare issue.
Then there is the issue of the low-life that posted this, what I again assume is, an historic photograph on social media. One must suspect, if the incident took place at Cullentra House, that one of Elliott’s employees or friends took the photograph and if this person posted it then there must be the intent to get Elliott into severe trouble. If the photograph was stolen from the owner of it, then real villainy is afoot.
How ever the cards fall for Elliott, whatever punishment is handed out by the Irish racing authorities, his reputation will be irreversibly dented. Already, reprehensibly in my opinion, Betfair has ended its association with him. As I have already said, a man is innocent until proven guilty and unless Elliott has admitted his guilt to Betfair, I would suggest he is better off without their sponsorship. I have never been easy with these associations between bookmakers and trainers and think they should be closely looked at. And with Cheltenham coming up the top owners he is privileged to train for will be placed in a difficult situation. It is too close to the Festival to be moving their horses, yet to stay loyal to him if in the next few days Elliott admits publicly his guilt might drag them into the spotlight.
Gordon Elliott trains not only the legend that is Tiger Roll but the most likely next superstar of the sport, Envoi Allen. And there is his staff, his loyal staff, many of whom have been with him since he started training, they too are affected by this unsavoury situation. I hope if Elliott losing his license over this, someone close to him will take over, if only to keep the business afloat and to keep staff employed until he can return.
Let’s not beat about the bush, the reputation of horse racing is at stake here. Displaying disregard for the death of a horse is many magnitudes worse than anything Charles Byrne was found guilty of. He merely left a horse unattended for a short period of time – a misdemeanour nowhere near as scandalous as the I.H.R.A, being given money by government to spend on C.C.T. cameras to improve racecourse security and then spending the money of something else – Elliott is accused of bringing the sport into disrepute and even, given we are not at the moment aware of how this horse died on his gallops, if indeed it was dead when the photograph was taken, negligence or animal cruelty. 
I will be keeping my fingers crossed over the coming days that this is a storm in a teacup and that Elliott can fashion an acceptable explanation. If not, then the storm will overspill the teapot and furnish the low-lifes who inhabit social media with a howling tempest of vitriol that the newspapers will shine a bright light on.
Please let there be a satisfactory explanation. Please Gordon, be innocent.