ONE of the stories of the week has been the controversial withdrawal of gambled-on Petrol Head from the Galway Hurdle.

The horse apparently failed a prohibited substance screening test after winning at Bellewstown for Katy Brown, which is the official reason for the IHRB having him withdrawn, but as usual, there have been various rumours swirling around and it doesn’t take the join-the-dots enthusiasts long to work out what those rumours might be, given the horse’s infamy in IHRB annals.

Given there is an ongoing investigation into that failed test, it’s not necessarily helpful to dig into the whys and wherefores of this particular case, other than to say that Katy Brown seems pretty upset that established owners in her yard are potentially being scapegoated because of the reputation of someone with no current connection with the horse, and making lazy and cynical assumptions does her no favours.

All will come out in the wash, no doubt, and she doesn’t seem the sort to take it lying down, which promises an enlightening denouement.

Other foot

At Goodwood, the BHA have been working on the other foot, and are at pains to ensure Temporize was able to attempt to win back-to-back Goodwood Handicaps (that’s the Goodwood Stakes for us oldies) even though trainer Syd Hosie appears to no longer hold a licence. Hosie’s name appeared next to the horse at declarations time but the name on the racecard will be that of supersub Tony Charlton, whose only previous experience with a licence was the temporary job of handling the horses previously in the care of Milton Harris while that colourful trainer was under investigation.

To bring things full circle, Harris himself popped up again this week with a launch of a tipping service, promising to pass on information on horses with which he is connected.

The BHA made the unusual move on refusing to comment on whether Hosie faces disciplinary charges or what they might be.

Before Hosie took out a licence in his own name he employed several others to hold the licence for his purpose-built yard, while at least one other licenced trainer claimed to be responsible for training his horses without ever appearing on the licence.

No-one seems to know whether Milton Harris’ connection to horses he’s happy to share information about refers to a current association or from his past endeavour and current relationships with members of the current training fraternity.

Many of Harris’ ex-inmates are now in the same yard and speculation is that he remains involved, but that is neither confirmed nor is it breaking any rules as long as he is acting as an employee or even assistant trainer, neither of which require a licence.

Harris, it’s largely been forgotten, lost his licence once before, with horses under the Equine Enterprises Limited moving en masse to Merrita Jones, who was cajoled out of retirement to renew her licence. That arrangement didn’t last long, with Jones unhappy that she was not afforded the responsibility set out in an agreement with the BHA which allowed her to exercise full control of the training of those horses.

Another trainer who has been disqualified was found to be actively involved in the training of horses previously in his care, with the new trainer admitting that he was unaware that daily communication regarding the horses’ training and racing was not allowed.

He received a fine for his naivety, but the former trainer is now beyond the sanction of the BHA. It’s fair to say that over the years, plenty of those warned off have attempted to retain control through third parties, while owners are able to keep their identity secret from the general public if not the authorities through cleverly named partnerships.

Harder to know

The frustration for ordinary followers of the sport is that it’s never been harder to know exactly who owns or trains a horse.

Can we trust what’s published in the papers and online? Yes, but not absolutely. When rich owner X, who may have a chequered past, sends 20 horses to cash-strapped trainer Y, who has only three sound horses and just a handful of winners in a decade, there’s a chance that X is simply using Y as a cipher, or gaining a backdoor means of exercising a training licence without proper scrutiny. When X also runs his horses under a name that doesn’t identify him, then the public is doubly duped.

Similarly, when a trainer loses his/her licence but is not disqualified, it’s not hard to simply find someone with a licence and offer to become unlicenced assistant. No-one without a close involvement will know to what extent said person is involved in the training, placing and sourcing of horses, and whether it’s above board or not. Meanwhile, the racing grapevine will continue to spew out rumour of nefarious goings on, and all this is to the detriment of the sport as honest endeavour.

THE award for the most egregious stewarding decision of the week undoubtedly goes to those responsible for the utterly incomprehensible decision to demote 66/1 shot Flic Ou Voyou (Harry Hogarth/Danny McMenamin) to second after he had dead-heated with Get Up Mush for the Conferences Here At Uttoxeter Racecourse Handicap Chase on Sunday. Flic Ou Voyou made most of the running at Uttoxeter and jumped like a bunny until misjudging the final fence, causing McMenamin to lose his irons, and briefly his steering.

Both horse and jockey recovered quickly, but the brief loss of momentum gave the chasing Get Up Mush and Harry Skelton a chance and they quickened to join the leader in the final stride.

No point

Get Up Mush was at no point hampered by Flic Ou Voyou, with Skelton switching to come wide of the leader on the run-in having been directly in his slipstream jumping the last. Somehow, the stewards decided that interference had indeed taken place and while accepting that McMenamin immediately corrected his mount, they decide to award the race outright to Get Up Mush. Not only that, but they took so long to announce an inquiry that a sizeable proportion of bets had already been paid out on the original result.

It’s a familiar bloody shambles that takes both punters and bookmakers for fools, and while Harry Hogarth will undoubtedly get the race back on appeal, the damage has already been done.