Time to start televising high-profile inquiries

If ever there was a good case for televising stewards’ inquiries, it can surely be made following that Paul Townend debacle at Punchestown on Tuesday, writes Pat Keane.

This was a mystery from start to finish and, with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board making no effort to throw any light on the subject, as punters headed to bed that night, the conspiracy theorists were allowed free rein to hit overdrive.

Some of the rubbish that appeared on social media bordered on the ridiculous, with one anonymous punter calling for Townend to be banned for life.