Gordon Elliot

[MHM]

@Willesdon

It has spread beyong racing media into national news.

Not just the national news.

There were articles about it in both the Washington Post and the New York Times yesterday, along with a separate piece on CNN about the jockey who did something similar. I’m almost surprised at how much news coverage it has gotten in the United States, where horse racing is much less mainstream.

Not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I wonder if PETA and similar organizations are working behind the scenes to get this story more attention. The article in the Post was surprisingly detailed, with lots of quotes from several different people. It wasn’t just a few sentences.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/03/02/photo-famed-trainer-atop-dead-horse-sparks-outrage-leads-ban-britain/

Trainer Photographed on Dead Horse Is Barred From British Racing

When the New York Times has to clarify that the incidents involved two different dead horses, you know you’re doing it really, really, really, really wrong.

Horse racing faces fresh scrutiny after footage appears of a jockey posing on...

[Pronzini]

Unbelieveable. WaPo and NYT can’t be bothered to cover American racing as a sport unless you happen to win the Derby but they can go all the way to Britain to cover this which involves a sector of the sport (steeplechasing) which is barely a blip here.

I guarantee you that they wouldn’t cover the horse which won Arc in this detail.

Honestly I hate this stuff. So now American flat racing will be tarred by a scandal that doesn’t even involve America or flat racing.

And oh by the way, don’t kid yourself that this has a humanitarian purpose that will benefit horses. Take a look at some of the comments --pet horses aren’t exempt from their “concern”

Here’s an example "Is putting a piece of metal in someone’s mouth to control them love? "

The next time someone cautions the racing industry to explain itself to the public, please keep in mind that some of the skeptical public wants riders to explain bits and saddles and metal shoes too. We are all in the proverbial glass house.

[snaffle1987]

this isn’t just a PR issue for both the jockey and his incident and the Gordon Elliot incident. Its heart breaking and its disgusting. I think many fans and breeders and participants believe, in good faith, that trainers and their employees genuinely love and respect the charges entrusted to them in their stables.

This is just fuel to the fire that they are nothing more than a paycheck standing in a stall for some of these big guns. No amount of apology is going to make up for sitting astride a horse who just had a heart attack on your gallops and lost its life while jockeys and trainers and their cohorts laugh and find it funny.

The fact of the matter is, yes, these videos were never intended to be seen outside of their organizations. But they were shared. Does that fact make these actions any more despicable? Absolutely not. If you were the owner or breeder or groom of that beloved horse who was treated so disrespectfully by either its jockey or the trainer entrusted in its care; would you still add some defense that it was to never have been shared? it still happened!

These horses deserve much more than these tools in that toolshed.

[omare]

Looks like one year ban with 6 months suspended.

[MHM]

@omare

Looks like one year ban with 6 months suspended.

Wow.

Does it look like all the horses will have to go elsewhere? Or can he step away from the intact operation and let an assistant take over?

[MHM]

The article includes a response from Elliot.

Gordon Elliott banned for one year with six months suspended | At The Races

[Laurierace]

Very pleasantly surprised by this ruling. Hopefully he takes his punishment and leaves it at that as opposed to dragging it out on appeal.

[MHM]

I believe it was reported that he will not appeal.

[MHM]

It sounds like maybe they have found somebody to come in and take over the operation.

NEWS: Denise Foster tipped to replace Gordon Elliott

[omare]

This would seem to mean he cannot keep training them at his home base even if he leaves the saddling at the races to someone else?

[MHM]

It sounds that way, but I don’t know if they have a different system in Ireland and the UK, where it seems like a lot more trainers work from their home base and just send the horses to the track when it is time for them to race.

[skydy]

After considering the evidence,the IHRB says that in its view, “there is also a sinister aspect to this case. The committee are satisfied that the publication of this photograph was part of a concerted attack on Mr. Elliot, the full circumstances of which are unknown”.

“This has been canvassed not for the purposes of defense or absolution, but in order to explain the publication of a photograph that has existed since 2019”.

[skydy]

Elliot’s head lad mildly rebuked for taking photo of Elliot on dead horse.

Elliott Head Lad Banned For Taking Photo

[MHM]

OK, I have two problems with this.

First of all, he’s been punished for taking the picture? That sounds to me like it’s an implied threat to anyone else in the racing industry who might document something wrong that has happened. So that’s not a good thing.

Secondly, it’s ridiculous that they keep handing out these bans with half or most of the sentence suspended. It happened to the trainer, it happened to the jockey, and now it’s happened to this guy. If he was banned for two months, call it a two month ban, not a nine month ban with seven months suspended.

[skydy]

It confusing for me as well.
I suppose the reason for the mostly suspended sentence is for them to be able to impose the full sentence if he makes any other mistakes, but how often does a person have the opportunity to take a photo of someone on a dead horse? It not likely he’ll do it again…

[MHM]

@skydy

how often does a person have the opportunity to take a photo of someone on a dead horse?

Let’s hope not very often. But if anything, they should be taking pictures if someone does something wrong.

[Gardenhorse]

If he took the picture with the intent of documenting wrongdoing and immediately sent it to the authorities then I doubt he would have gotten a suspension. Instead he took it months ago and sent it to several friends.

One of the articles said “The committee heard McGonagle did not contest he took the photograph, that he captioned it and disseminated it to five friends.”

The article didn’t say what the caption was, but my guess is that it was not respectful of the horse. And I assume that is why he was punished.

[MHM]

Do you think most of the guys (or lads as they might be called on that side of the ocean) would make a distinction along those lines?

Or do you think most of them would say, “Holy cow, Gordon’s head lad got in a lot of trouble for taking that picture, and Gordon’s whole staff almost lost their jobs. I’m keeping my phone in my pocket”?