Gordon Elliott Banned For One Year After Investigation Into Dead Horse Photo

Gordon Elliott Banned For One Year After Investigation Into Dead Horse Photo.

Gordon Elliott has been banned for a year, six months of which are suspended, by the Irish racing authorities after a photograph of him astride a dead horse on his County Meath gallops was widely circulated on social media this week.

The suspension means that there will be no runners in his name at the upcoming Cheltenham Festival. However, it is being reported that contingency plans are being finalised for another licensed trainer to run Elliott’s yard in his absence. In addition to the suspension, which will take effect from Tuesday, Elliott was also ordered to pay costs of €15,000.

Elliott released a statement on Friday evening, soon after the ban was confirmed by the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IRHB). He said, quote: “I accept my situation and my sanction and am satisfied with my engagement with the IRHB. It is not an easy job to sit on the panel but I was dealt with fairly.

“I am in this situation by my own action and I am not going to dodge away from this. With my position in the sport, I have great privileges and great responsibility. I did not live up to that responsibility. I am no longer the teenage boy who first rode a horse at Tony Martin’s 30 years ago. I am an adult with obligations and a position in a sport I have loved since I first saw horses race.

“I am paying a very heavy price for my error but I have no complaints. It breaks my heart to see the hurt I have caused to my colleagues, family, friends and supporters. I have a long road ahead of me but I will serve my time and then build back better. Horses are my life. I love them. No one comes into racing for money – it is a hard way to make a living. We are here because we love horses. Anyone who has visited my stables at Cullentra will see the meticulous care with which we treat our horses.

I was disrespectful to a dead horse, an animal that had been a loyal servant to me and was loved by my staff. I will carry the burden of my transgressions for the rest of my career. I will never again disrespect a horse living or dead and I will not tolerate it in others. Finally, I want to thank my owners and my staff who, despite being let down by me, have been unstinting in their support. I will vindicate their faith in me.”

Elliott has become one of the most successful jumps trainers of modern times since he burst on to the scene with victory in the Grand National via Silver Birch in 2007. He has sent out 32 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, which starts a week on Tuesday.

The trainer confirmed last Sunday evening that an image showing the trainer sitting on a horse, which had died on his gallops, was genuine. In a subsequent interview with the sport’s trade paper, the Racing Post, Elliott said that his actions after Morgan, a horse owned by Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown Stud operation, had died on his gallops in 2019, were “indefensible”, adding: “Whether alive or dead, the horse was entitled to dignity. A moment of madness that I am going to have to spend the rest of my life paying for and that my staff are suffering for.”

The interview with Elliott was published shortly after the British Horseracing Authority’s announcement that runners from his yard would not be allowed to race in Britain until the IRHB investigation into the case was concluded.

Elliott has since been axed as an ambassador by Betfair and lost the lucrative sponsorship of his stable backers eCOMM Merchant Solutions. In addition, Cheveley Park Stud moved eight of their horses out of Elliott’s HQ and split them between rivals Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead.

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