Mick Fitzgerald: Gordon Elliott picture made me sick to my stomach. He must learn from his mistake

TARNISHED FIGURE: Gordon Elliott oversees his string at Cullentra House. In the wake of the emergence of a picture of Elliott astride a dead horse on his gallops, Mick Fitzgerald feels ‘the IHRB have any option but to suspend Gordon’s licence to train for a period of time’. Picture: Patrick McCann/Racing Post

When I first saw the picture that has horrified everyone and had such a destructive impact on an industry but also so many people’s lives, I thought it was a fake.

Who would do that? Not Gordon.

When the authenticity of the image was confirmed, I felt sick. That was him alright, astride a dead horse.

I could not come close to envisioning a set of circumstances that would explain doing such a thing and thought Gordon’s attempt to do so was poor. It didn’t explain sitting on a the recently-deceased Morgan. The photo looks awful but that’s because it is awful.

The consequences are multiple for Gordon Elliott, for his staff, and for the entire racing industry, not just in Ireland. That is why the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) have weighed in so heavily, and quite unprecedentedly, before the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Body (IHRB) had completed its investigation and disciplinary process.

That in itself has prompted the removal of the Cheveley Park horses from Cullentra House, superstar Envoi Allen among them.

In England, we are under constant pressure in racing to justify ourselves. We have to be so careful. People in Ireland have more of an understanding of rural life but I know racing has enemies everywhere.

People aren’t accustomed to seeing dead animals and there is a real emotional reaction to that. To then have a picture of Gordon Elliott sitting on one, and as has emerged now most recently, Rob James doing something similar, is just horrific.

Gordon has acknowledged it himself. An animal should have its dignity even after its death and I would consider that 100% true. I love horses. I would hate to think of anybody not treating a horse right, whether they’re alive or dead, and I think they deserve the respect of the players in the game. I also think that for the very greatest part, they do have that.

I think there’s a real sense from BHA that they need to send out a message that this isn’t acceptable and that’s why they won’t allow horses running under Gordon’s name in their jurisdiction until the IHRB reaches a verdict.

They have upset quite a few people by pre-empting the Irish regulator’s decision. It’s unprecedented action. Normally they’d see how it plays out and then respond but not in this case.

But with Cheltenham less than two weeks away, there was never going to be anything but negative publicity if Gordon was there. We’d be on TV, talking about the welfare of the horses being paramount and God forbid, one of his horses get killed. Organisations like PETA would be online immediately with the one picture, saying: ‘Is this what you mean?’ And when you see that picture, you can’t unsee it.

I feel sad that people who don’t know Gordon are lured into thinking he has no empathy with the animals in his care.

And his first statement of apology didn’t help him there. In his interview in the Racing Post, he described what he had done as “indefensible, whether alive or dead the horse was entitled to dignity.”

If he had come out with this apology in the first place it would have done a better job than the pathetic reasons given in the original statement.

But I do know Gordon Elliott, a long time. I condemn what he has done. It made me sick to my stomach. But I have never, ever heard a single person say he has been in any way cruel to his animals. It’s not consistent with the Gordon Elliott I know.

It’s probably the only time he’s ever done anything remotely like that and some of his defenders might say that we have all done stupid things but he is a man with 250 horses in his care and a responsibility to them and to their owners. It’s a moment in time that he would love to erase forever because it’s just not him. But it’s hard to say it’s not him, because it’s him in the photo.

At the time of writing this the IHRB are conducting their enquiry and they have been put in a tough spot by the BHA.

I don’t think the IHRB have any option but to suspend Gordon’s licence to train for a period of time. They have to send out the message that this isn’t acceptable, that this is not how we roll in horseracing, just as the BHA have done.

However, calls to ban him for life are ridiculous.

Like anyone that has served a punishment, he should be given the chance to rebuild trust again. People will view him differently. There are a lot of people that respect him as a trainer and will return because of that. This is not behaviour befitting of a licensed trainer. He says he knows that, but he will have to show it and I have no doubt he will.

There are a couple of other issues. I feel for the grooms that will not get to go to Cheltenham with their horses. It’s the pinnacle for them as it is for owners, jockeys, and trainers.

Most of all I feel for the grooms of the horses leaving the yard. They all treat their horses like they would their own children. They love them and care for them so well. And they are going to be heartbroken watching them go out of the yard.

One incident can have such a huge impact on so many people’s lives.

Gordon Elliott has to be punished but he won’t be the only one punished and that’s not fair.

It is also a question mark about how the horses will respond in a new environment with a new routine and looked after by complete strangers. Some thrive, others melt but generally, horses love routine. Someone once asked legendary trainer, Martin Pipe — Gordon Elliott’s great racing hero as it happens — if his horses ever got bored doing the same thing every day. He said: “Horses don’t get bored, people do.”

It would be a concern.

Finally, there is a lot more awareness around mental health now and it’s something people should think about when engaging in the social and radio phone-in pile-ons. This is a human being whose whole world is crashing around him.

What Gordon Elliott has done is appalling and has hurt the reputation of the racing world he holds so dear.

He must learn his lesson.