General Chat

[ryanh97]

The cynic in me would say publishing the account late on Sunday evening was a ploy to keep it off the back pages tomorrow and hoping to minimise its time in the news cycle

Couldn't agree more Robith. That or it simply took them 24 hours to think of that utter drivel of a response

[Irish2016]

Surley Gordon will be suspended is the likely hood his horses don’t make Cheltenham while they investigate

[ryanh97]

The authorities have to be careful on this one. IMO a fine or a slap on the wrist does just as much damage, if not more, to the sport than the incident itself.

[HoldenTheReins]

Surley Gordon will be suspended is the likely hood his horses don’t make Cheltenham while they investigate

I would hope they don't do that purely for the owners of the horses wanting and expecting their horses to go to Cheltenham. They shouldn't be punished for that.

[ryanh97]

Surley Gordon will be suspended is the likely hood his horses don’t make Cheltenham while they investigate

Surely they just run under the name of the assistant trainer?

[Nortons who]

Absolutely sickening, what kind of message does this send to the general public. His explanation is feeble and his actions unworthy of a trainer in his privileged positon, no matter how gifted he might be its totally inexcusible.

It will be very interesting to see how ITV handle this at the weekend, as they can't just sweep it under the carpet. I reckon Ed Chamberlain will be sitting in a dark room somewhere with his head in his hands. Potentially GE might offer to go on air to make a televised public apology but not sure this won't just stir things up even more.

I hate to say it but I think it would be better for the longer term future of NH racing if Chevely Park remove their horses from GE as soon as possible and also withdraw them from Cheltenham. In my opinion if they still run there under his name it will ultimately do more harm and I suspect that Animal Rights activists and / or those people who have engineered this disclosure will capitilise on it during the Festival, to the further detriment of the sport.

As much as I was really looking forward to seeing GEs superstars perform at the Festival, if they do turn up I'm rather hoping now they get turned over. For me this really has put a damper on things and unfortunately its an image which will not easily be forgotten.

[TigerRolllllll]

Like everyone truly sickened by this incident and worried the impact it will have on the image of our sport

Spent my career in Marketing and been involved in various crisis teams......some being well-handled and some not......and really hope the IHRA are well-advised (a concern, given how they seem to have handled other issues)

Echo what others have said that this is a time for calm heads. However, it is also important that the IHRA get ahead of this and manage the message.....much better to be on the front foot....particularly over the coming days. They should now have a full crisis management PR team already working on it (that button should have been pressed within mins of the photo appearing)

Personally,i would probably recommend something like an immediate suspension from all racing for Gordon, whilst a detailed investigation can be carried out....interview witnesses, establish if there are any other incidents, culture in the yard, etc....i assume the yard can function without him for several weeks and this is easy to explain given the welfare of the horses there is paramount (routines, etc) and owners and other staff should not be punished unless there is a wider issue. This would mean Gordon is banned from his own yard and attending any race days, including Cheltenham....where his presence will not help

The key thing is to get out in front appearing tough and decisive.....but they also need to buy time for cooler heads. They also need to counter in briefings with info about all the positive strides made and that will continue to be made re horses welfare

If Gordon is telling the whole truth on this.....then he will have to take punishment...and with all the details and the benefit of time, a sensible decision can be made. Owners will make theirs too

However, if there is more to come out, he is almost certainly finished (if not already).....someone has it in for him and i presume would know if this is the case. Think Dominic Cummings as example...it was less the original trip that caused the outrage, but the ridiculous Barnard Castle adventure that came out next.

Fingers crossed for our sport over the next 2 weeks......we could do with no fatalities....and Rachel or Bryony riding a big race winner.....and as many other positive stories as possible (and again a PR team should be on this spinning every positive they can!)

[Ballybeen]

Is there not a rule were you can’t run your horse with a new trainer for the first 14 days?

[Atlantic Viking]

Is there not a rule were you can’t run your horse with a new trainer for the first 14 days?

That's how I understand it, but happy to be corrected. Could be a frantic couple of days, or not. Hard to imagine their being no repercussions.

[ToniC]

Is there not a rule were you can’t run your horse with a new trainer for the first 14 days?

I thought the BHA rule was the horse has to have been in the care of a licensed yard for a minimum of 14 days before racing. Don Poli ran in the national 2 days after moving yards when Yates bought him on the Thursday

[Tangodelta]

Is there not a rule were you can’t run your horse with a new trainer for the first 14 days?

If they get the transfer of trainers in today then 14 days would be Monday 15th so all should be ok for the festival. That is assuming transfer of trainer is as easy and simple as a bank transfer. It probably isn’t but I’m no expert on the process

[Al Ferof]

Like many, I am totally shocked by the incident. The photographer also just as awful and the poor taste caption on Snapchat too. In what universe did any of them allow this to happen. I am flabbergasted.

What really, really aggravates me in scenarios like this is the “statement” we get. Totally, utterly, 100% written by some media advisor with not a shred of input from the person they attribute it to. Heartfelt apologies my arse.

Really does put racing in the gutter.

[Carnage at Taunton]

I'm absolutely rocked by this tbh.

Could lose count the amount of times I've argued racing's case to friends who hate it (pretty much all of them) and the cornerstone is the love and care those involved have for the magnificent animals in their care. I'm sure others on here are similar.

And in one fell swoop he has made us all look like prize plums and done enormous damage to a sport that in my mind is one big enough incident away from a disaster it won't recover from.

Yep me too, this is just plain awful for all of us that love this sport. God knows what happens now, but this has to be acted on immediately and let’s hope our sport does not suffer too much,although I fear it already has

[ToniC]

Even if he is banned eventually, there’s a defined process that has to be followed of hearings and the like by an IHRB panel, after which a punishment will be decided, which can then be appealed against which is another process of hearings etc by a different panel, with trainers still able to have runners until the appeals process has been exhausted. Charles Byrnes is had a winner yesterday, despite being banned on the 19th of jan & losing his appeal on the 18th of feb, because you get a period of 2 weeks notice before the ban becomes effective.

whether people WANT him to have runners at the festival or not would be another matter, but I do think it’s good to apply a bit of context. The optics of what Gordon’s done are pretty shocking, but is the actual offence worse that what Charles byrnes was accused of? Ultimately he’s guilty of making a very, very, very bad taste joke. That of course brings the sport into disrepute. But not to the same extent as a trainer being accused of literally drugging his horses so they don’t perform on course allowing him to make money laying them.

it’s obviously pretty emotive seeing a picture like that, but I do think the people saying they want him out of racing for good etc should try and get a bit of perspective IMO. He’s done something stupid & in bad taste, he’s admitted it and no doubt will be landed with a hefty fine and/or a bit of a ban eventually, but I don’t think the guys career deserves to be ruined because of it.

[Jrow]

What an absolute idiot he is, the cancel culture times we live in means he will have to face major consequences.

From a selfish point of view however, it pisses me off just as much that it could wreak havoc with cheltenham. After the year we have had, we deserve something to look forward to FFS. I just hope that his horses run and any punishment will be undertaken post cheltenham.