Jockey Ambrose McGovern was guilty of nothing more than an “error of judgement” when finishing fast to take third place on Davids Charm in a Killarney maiden hurdle on May 16th, the Referrals Committee found this week. The running and riding case had been passed on to the Committee by the acting stewards at Killarney who opted not to deal with the matter on the day.

Stewards’ secretary Hugh Hynes told the Committee that the acting stewards felt McCurtin used his whip “like it was for show rather than effect” in the closing stages and said that the rider was capable of riding to a better standard.