we leave ourselves open too easily to unjust condemnation.

​As with any industry or sport, horse racing is both, we, enthusiasts and professionals alike, cannot pretend to not having amongst our membership the occasional bad apple. It has always been so; unfortunately, people being how they are, it will be so at the present moment and may continue to be so no matter how hard the sport attempts to stamp down on wrong-doers. But that doesn’t imply that there is no point in wasting resources attempting to weed-out the impure. 
On one day of his life, as far as we can be sure, Gordon Elliott’s behaviour was that of a juvenile; he was stupid and will live the rest of his life with a photograph of himself sitting astride a dead horse, a horse that died on his gallops, weighing heavy on his shoulders. He was not responsible for the death of this horse and no one has accused him of being implicit in the death of the horse. As far as I am aware Gordon Elliott has never knowingly caused suffering to any horse or animal. Indeed, his reputation before the date someone maliciously posted the infamous photograph on-line was of a man who went out of his way to ensure the horses in his care were as well looked-after as could be humanly achieved. He may have become wealthy through success but his success has been aided and achieved through lavishing money on Cullentra Stables and the horses housed there.
On Thursday of this week, it is reported, he will have his licence to train returned to him, his 6-month suspension from the sport served, served, I might add, with quiet dignity. It is reported in the early days of his suspension he was a broken man; he had let himself down, he had betrayed his staff, owners and family and he had caused irreparable short-term harm to the sport he cherishes at a time when the sporting spotlight was about to shine on the Cheltenham Festival. His staff stayed loyal, as did the majority of his owners. His friends ensured he received the therapy he needed to focus on the future and to start to rebuild his life and character.
There is speculation on how he will be received back into the fold. I suspect the majority of his peers will shake his hand and slap him on the shoulder. Every man and woman with a trainers’ licence have made a mistake in life, everyone of them will wish they had made a different decision in the aftermath of one of their horses being injured or killed. We are all human; all of us are frail in some respect or another.
Some people, obviously, will condemn him and turn their back on him. I suspect punters will cheer him to the echo when one of his horses returns him to the winners’ enclosure.
Let’s be clear. Gordon was in the wrong, he was justifiably punished. His punishment reflected the misdemeanour. I must repeat, though, that no horse suffered at his hands.
Stephen Mahon, in contrast, has blood on his hands. He was twice found guilty of causing suffering to horses in his care and yet at his appeal to his latest conviction the disciplinary panel reduced his punishment by six-months on what I consider a technicality. His four-year suspension was lowered to three-years, six-months.
It is my opinion that if Stephen Mahon could not be sanctioned with a life ban, for their crass dereliction of their duty to protect the reputation of the sport every member of the disciplinary panel that judged Mahon should be warned off the sport for life.
I’ll make no bones about it: Mahon should have received a life ban for his callous behaviour. No other punishment is true justice. He should have received a life-ban for his first, totally sickening, act of animal cruelty, the details of which are too upsetting to feature here. And yet the Irish Regulatory Board, the Irish Horseracing Authority, or even the Irish Trainers’ Federation, did not think his offence gross enough to warrant a life ban. The Trainers’ Federation, every man and woman, seemingly will be happy to have Mahon back amongst their number someday in the future.
Something is rotten in our kingdom when a trainer is more vilified for an act of juvenile stupidity than a trainer who causes suffering to a horse. Something is rotten in our kingdom when a life ban is not the go-to punishment for an act of intentional cruelty. At the very least the Irish Horseracing Authority should have turned their file on the Mahon case over to the police for them to pursue a legal investigation. My suspicion is they did not do this to save the sport from adverse publicity. If this is true, they were wrong-headed and guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute. The sport has to be seen as the ultimate protector of every horse within its jurisdiction. 
If the sport only exists under public licence those with responsibility for the sport’s welfare and reputation must plug all the weak spots in its legislation with a strong moral code and steel-clad regulation. There should be only one outcome for anyone found guilty of causing deliberate or premeditated harm to a horse. No excuses. No wriggle-room.
I believe the sport can provide a vigorous defence against the majority of the ‘Panorama-like scandals’ that have rocked it during the decades of my life. The Stephen Mahon case, though, is indefensible on many levels, the worst of which is that the sport let him off lightly for crimes that should have led to trial and imprisonment. 
Or perhaps worst of all, the public might be led to believe that in horse racing cruelty is to be tolerated!