Family Luca Cumani (GB)
Francesca Cumani born into, and brought up
within a “Bloodhorse Literate Family”.
Friday
April 27, 2018:
McNamara: Irish racing dragged into gutter
over Townend incident:
Trainer hits out at regulator over long delay for
official explanation:
Pic: Robbie
McNamara: Hit out at "short-sighted decisions:"
RMN: Irish
horseracing government regulators afraid of saying the wrong thing:
By
Lee Mottershead.
RP: LM: “THE STORYTELLER won it. Trying to tell the
story is nigh-on impossible.
RP: LM: “What took place at Punchestown yesterday evening
will go down in racing folklore as one of the most remarkable, bizarre and
crazy things to happen not just on this racecourse, but on any other.
There
was Devon Loch’s Grand National collapse and there was the lle De Chypre
stun-gun affair. Now there is Paul Townend and Al Boum Photo, and the
mystifying detour they took at the last fence in the Growise Champion Novices
Chase, a manoeuvre that carried out rival Finian’s Oscar.
For
Townend it was the stuff of nightmares, one that earned him a 21-day dangerous
riding suspension following a lengthy inquiry, after which the jockey- number-
one jockey to Mullins at Punchestown in the absence of Ruby Walsh, offered no
comment."
Townend
dragged race leader Al Boum Photo and Finian's Oscar out of the contest, after
which he was handed a 21-day dangerous riding suspension from the IHRB
racecourse stewards.
The former champion jockey failed to explain his
actions at the time, with his silence, and that of the officials, causing
numerous theories to be raised on social media.
The former
champion jockey failed to explain his actions at the time, with his silence,
and that of the officials, causing numerous theories to be raised on social
media.
"Twitter
went mental and into complete rampage," said McNamara. "It was
horrific for Irish racing. So many people already think Irish racing is fixed.
That view could not be further from the truth, but by saying nothing about what
Paul had said to them, the stewards increased people's negative opinions about
the sport in Ireland.
"Paul
or Willie probably should have said something themselves but the Irish
Horseracing Regulatory Board should definitely have said something. Why wait 15
hours when saying something straightaway would have cleared this up in people's
minds immediately?
"I'm a
good friend of Paul Townend, who is a genuine, very nice fellow, but everyone
has to be treated the same way by the stewards, whether it's Paul, Willie
Mullins or me.
"It
seems to me the stewards didn't say anything because they were afraid of saying
the wrong thing, but the sport has to be bigger than just Willie Mullins and
Paul Townend."
Robbie McNamara was
deeply critical of the stewards' silence
Patrick McCann
McNamara added: "It is absolutely laughable.
If something controversial had happened during the FA Cup Final the world would
not have been left wondering.
"There
have been too many short-minded decisions, like moving our racing rights from
At The Races to Racing UK. Too many mistakes are being made. Decisions like
this one at Punchestown drag the sport into the gutter."
Explaining
why there had been an overnight delay in revealing what Townend said in the
inquiry, IHRB chief executive Denis Egan pointed out such an approach is not
unusual in Ireland, and said: "The stewards, having considered the
evidence and all aspects of the inquiry, including the wellbeing of the rider
concerned, decided not to publish the evidence given until this morning.
"It
should be noted that full details of evidence given at inquiries is not always
published."
In Britain
the BHA has moved in recent years to provide ever greater detail in inquiry
reports, while the two jurisdictions also differ in that had such an event
occurred on a big day in Britain, ITV would have been able to provide live
coverage of Townend giving his evidence.
Despite
efforts over many years, RTE has failed to persuade Irish jockeys to support allowing
cameras into stewards' rooms.
Denis Egan says the
Punchestown stewards were thinking of Paul Townend's wellbeing
Patrick McCann
Egan said:
"This was discussed some years ago and at the time the Turf Club [the
predecessor of the IHRB] had no issue with TV cameras being allowed into
certain types of inquiries, but the jockeys were against it and it didn’t
proceed."
Confirming
the televising of inquiries has bedded down smoothly in Britain, BHA spokesman
Robin Mounsey said: "We wanted to open up stewards’ inquiries on the
racecourse to cameras, not only as part of our bid to be more open and
transparent about how we regulate the sport, but also to give the viewers at
home some access behind the scenes.
"There
were some initial reservations from participants when we first suggested the
idea, which were understandable, but once we were able to move past these the
process to get things approved was actually smoother than we were
anticipating."
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