Talking Horses: no need for questioned trainers to feel 'like a criminal'

Let’s start with a plea for everyone in racing to be grown up about the need for stewards asking questions. It shouldn’t be necessary but apparently it is because Ronan McNally’s response to an inquiry at Southwell on Monday was to go on Sky Sports Racing and say: “To be honest, I feel like a criminal today.”

McNally wasn’t found in breach of any rule and faces no charge from the British Horseracing Authority. His only complaint was that the stewards asked him questions, so goodness knows how he’s going to feel if he ever finds himself involved in an actual disciplinary inquiry at some stage in his career.

Related: Frankie Dettori’s Ascot exploits had online firms rushing to sell punters short | Greg Wood

Let’s be clear: the stewards are not just entitled to ask questions of trainers and jockeys, they positively must do so, as part of their job of ensuring the sport is fairly run. Asking a question implies no guilt.

And after all, what did McNally expect, given that the odds about his Southwell runner, The Jam Man, had shortened dramatically during the morning, despite his having been beaten by 98 lengths just nine days earlier? If the stewards hadn’t sat up and taken an interest in that, the rest of us would be asking why they bothered to turn up.

McNally told the stewards that his yard had been largely out of form due to sickness for the previous seven months but that he had seen signs of encouragement in a couple of recent runners. He felt The Jam Man had an excuse for his poor recent effort. The stewards wrote it all down and everyone went home. I can’t see that McNally has anything to complain about.

McNally, based in Armagh, is the third trainer this year to face pre-race questions from stewards at the instigation of the BHA, the others having been the Irish-based pair Charles Byrnes and Denis Hogan. It would be wrong to say the BHA never takes a similar interest in the activities of British-based trainers, because pre-race questions were put last year to Sam Thomas, John David Riches and Brett Johnson among others.

Still, the BHA needs to be very wary of allowing any suspicion of bias to arise. If the practice of pre-race questioning is to persist, there is no shortage of trainers in Britain who might be asked to explain how they have campaigned their horses.

Tuesday’s best bets

To Beverley, where the going description as I type is good to firm, but I can’t help thinking that will change. It’s been raining there, as it has over much of the country, and the latest GoingStick reading is 6.4.

Translating those numbers into a going description is a tricky business but a reading at that level has usually coincided with the Beverley going being on the soft side of good.

Anyway, it’s all one to the day’s nap, Waqt (2.30), who seems versatile as to ground. But it was soft when he won last time, at Brighton, and he seemed to relish it, pulling well clear of his rivals.

He’s up 8lb but he’s showed so much progress since joining Alexandra Dunn from Marcus Tregoning that I believe he can handle it, with first-time cheekpieces to help. He’s 6-1, which seems big, for all that it’s a decent race.

Low Profile (3.00) has been running into form and could provide the in-form Danny Tudhope with another winner. The chestnut is closely related to a mare that won a Listed race for Luca Cumani a couple of years back and could be really handily rated on 68. He’s 9-2.

In the apprentice race at the end of the card, there’s been support for Viking Way (5.00), who is down to 7-2 for the in-form Olly Williams. He won for Tuesday’s rider a couple of runs ago and coped well with soft ground when last seen.

Pick of the Brighton card could be Seaborn (3.15), who gets to run off the same mark as when landing an apprentice contest last week. I thought he won with more in hand than the bunched finish suggested and he again gets some cut in the ground. He’s 13-8.

Chris Cook's tips

Beverley

2.00 Walk In Marrakesh 2.30 Waqt (nap) 3.00 Low Profile 3.30 Gendarme 4.00 Tails I Win 4.30 Muhaarar's Nephew 5.00 Viking Way

Brighton

2.15 All Back To Mine 2.45 Bredenbury 3.15 Seaborn (nb) 3.45 Orobas 4.15 Joyful Dream 4.45 Just Later 5.15 Toolatetodelegate 

Newbury

4.55 Broad Appeal 5.30 Ocasio Cortez 6.05 The Blue Bower 6.35 Picture Frame 7.10 Infrastructure 7.40 Max Guevara 8.15 Eligible 8.45 Lilbourne Star 

Newton Abbot 

5.45 Lapford Lad 6.20 Midnight Folie 6.50 Romain De Senam 7.25 The Butcher Said 7.55 As You Like 8.30 Jimmy Rabbitte 9.00 Glanvilles Guest