The three-time Grand National-winning trainer Gordon Elliott has been banned for a year, six months of which are suspended, by the Irish racing authorities after a photograph of him astride a dead horse on his County Meath gallops was widely circulated on social media this week.
The suspension means that there will be no runners in his name at the upcoming Cheltenham Festival. However, it is being reported that contingency plans are being finalised for another licensed trainer to run Elliott's yard in his absence.
Elliott has become one of the most successful jumps trainers of modern times since he burst on to the scene with victory in the Grand National via Silver Birch in 2007. He has sent out 32 winners at the Cheltenham Festival, which starts a week on Tuesday.
Related: Talking Horses: Cheltenham clues emerge with weights for handicaps
Video: 'Nomadland' and 'The Crown' top Golden Globe winners (Cover Video)
'Nomadland' and 'The Crown' top Golden Globe winners
![UP NEXT]()
UP NEXT
The trainer confirmed last Sunday evening that an image showing the trainer sitting on a horse, which had died on his gallops, was genuine. In a subsequent interview with the sport's trade paper, the Racing Post, Elliott said that his actions after Morgan, a horse owned by Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown Stud operation, had died on his gallops in 2019, were "indefensible", adding: "Whether alive or dead, the horse was entitled to dignity. A moment of madness that I am going to have to spend the rest of my life paying for and that my staff are suffering for."
The interview with Elliott was published shortly after the British Horseracing Authority's announcement that runners from his yard would not be allowed to race in Britain until the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board investigation into the case was concluded.
Elliott has since been axed as an ambassador by Betfair and lost the lucrative sponsorship of his stable backers eCOMM Merchant Solutions. In addition Cheveley Park Stud moved eight of their horses out of Elliott's HQ and split them between rivals Willie Mullins and Henry de Bromhead.
. More details to follow .