Indefensible?
Of all the pejoratives used to describe the Gordon Elliot affair, indefensible is probably the one that features most. Is it though? Not if you accept the, admittedly implausible, excuse that was offered in his first statement. That statement has been ridiculed by the racing, and general, media. That doesn't mean it was a mistake. Suspecting a falsehood is one thing. Proving it false quite another. The credibility stretching excuse didn't do Dominic Cummings or Oisin Murphy any harm. If, on Friday, the IHRB accept that Elliot was distracted by a phone call, and punishment is mitigated as a result then the statement was justified. It will hopefully give owners in the yard the plausible deniability they require to leave their horses where they are. Here's my pet theory on what may have happened that fateful day. Gordon Elliot has worked his way from nothing to the summit of his profession. He hasn't done so alone. Nobody can. His team at Cullentra is made up of many pe