TRAINER James Lambe and former jockey Eddie O’Connell are facing a legal bill of more than €500,000.

Costs were awarded against the pair this week in what was the final act of the long-running Yachvili affair.

Lambe and O’Connell were originally charged by the Turf Club in relation to the running and riding of Yachvili in Downpatrick in 2011.

O’Connell was subsequently warned off for four years but the charges against Lambe were dropped.

However, the defendants had already taken legal action to prevent the Turf Club from determining their fate.

Their case, which claimed that the Turf Club’s jurisdiction to impose sanctions was not properly set out in legislation, was dismissed by the High Court and a subsequent appeal to the Supreme Court failed.